Escape
by MindFuel
Summary: Exorcists have it tough. And Rabi knows that Allen has it tougher than most. So why not help him escape from this obsessive reality? Sure, that's fine. But it'd be a lot easier if Allen wasn't such a lovable oaf. RabiAllen...for the most part
1. Luncheon

Title: Escape

Author: "teh great" M.F.

Disclaimer: all disclaimer rules apply. here and now.

Warnings: Shounan-ai/Yaoi, OOC (more than likely)

Before Notes: Yes, I've noticed. Kanda and Allen are a popular yaoi coupling… but I'm just more into Rabi and Allen. Maybe it's because I haven't given KxA a chance. But Kanda hasn't been in the manga so much lately, I hope he shows up some more, then maybe I'll give him a chance. But for now, its Rabi 'n Allen all the way baby!

* * *

Chapter 01: Luncheon

_I'm in love with someone..._

"Oi! Bean sprout! Wait up!" The voice echoed throughout the courtyard. Most of the people walking through didn't even look up. But the greeting definitely caught the attention of one young exorcist. White hair, light blue eyes, and a little on the short side... No wonder someone would come up with the nickname "bean sprout".

He turned around, fire burning in his eyes. "I told you not to call me that Rabi!" He glared up at his senior exorcist.

"Oh, c'mon! Nicknames are fun 'Allen'..." Rabi looked at Allen playfully. "And what's with the hair today? Ponytail...What's the occasion?" He asked as he roughed up the top of Allen's head.

"It's suppose to get a little hot later, and plus I was cleaning out some stuff this morning." Allen tried to fix the damage done to his hair, but it was to no avail...he looked up at Rabi. "What is it that you wanted anyways?" He waited for the obvious answer...

"Oh." Rabi paused and ran a hand through his messy red hair. "Oh! That's right! How about we go out and get us some luncheon?" Rabi smiled. Lucky for him, Allen always had some cash on him.

This was a daily routine for the two of them by now. When they weren't off on missions and back at home base Rabi would usually go off and find Allen to mooch a meal out of him. The thing is, Allen would never refuse Rabi's generous offer. This, Rabi knew all too well. Why didn't he refuse? Because, Allen was just a kind person at heart, in other words... a pushover.

"Of course lunch... Did you forget to eat breakfast again?" He gave Rabi a sideways glance and sighed. "What am I? Your mother? Do I always have to be around for you to be able to eat something? For Pete's sake, you're three years older than me!"

Rabi smiled as he enjoyed the exasperated look on Allen's face. "Hey! Get it right. It's two and a half years older. As for the whole mother thing, I might believe it if you had the boobs!" Rabi joked. Allen's usual pale face went red as he blew Rabi off and quickened his pace.

"Hey, wait up!" Rabi fell in step with Allen and sighed. "So where are we goin?"

"Where else?" Allen answered. "The usual place of course."

"You know Allen, how about we go check out a new place? Huh?" Rabi pointed down an alley as they passed by it. "I know about this new place. I hear they have really good desserts!" Rabi blushed. "Mmm. Desserts…"

Allen paused. That alley didn't look too friendly. And when he thought of good desserts, he usually thought of those cutesy little bishoujo coffee houses. There was no way one of those coffee houses was going to be in a deep, dark alley like that one…

"I dunno Rabi…" Allen looked down the street to the warm, welcoming building that was their usual pit stop.

"Oh come on!" Rabi smiled mischievously. "Ya aren't _scared_ of dark lookin' alleys like this now are ya?"

"What? Are you kidding me?" Allen had faced akuma ten times scarier than this alley, and Rabi knew it. Who was this guy trying to fool? "Fine, but it better be good."

"You won't be disappointed!" Rabi beamed as he grabbed Allen's hand and led them down the alleyway.

_I love him very much..._

Well, it seemed safe. Allen couldn't sense any akuma nearby so they didn't have to be on guard at the moment. It would be a peaceful luncheon today, something that happened only on rare occasions. Allen looked around at the creepy, suspicious looking stalls until one finally caught his attention.

"TADA! Here we are!" Rabi gestured grandly as they stood in front of a bright pink and white building that seemed misplaced in the dark alley. Allen just gaped at it. Not only did he question how people would find this sort of place, but also how Rabi knew about it.

"They have great advertising!" Rabi answered, as if he had read Allen's mind. "Now let's go inside!" He excitedly went on ahead.

"Welcome to the Bishojo Teahouse!"

He was right. Allen was right from the very beginning.

Allen gaped at all the waitresses. They were all dressed as maids in frilly, ribbony, pink, white and black outfits that exposed a good amount of skin… but of course, not too far ahead was Rabi, who seemed to be speechless at the moment as he drooled over the maids.

What would appeal more to Rabi? Maids Or Desserts? Allen glared at Rabi for dragging him to a place like this.

"Maids." He answered for himself. _That's the REAL reason we came here… for the cosplaying…_

"Right this way sir!" A waitress came over and led Allen into the shop.

"W-Wait a minute, I'm with that guy…" Allen pointed over his shoulder at Rabi who was too busy gawking to be dragged away.

"Oh, of course! Someone will bring him over momentarily."

Allen sat down at a frilly and pink table for two. Everything had a doily, the salt, the pepper, the ketchup… it was too much cute for him to handle. Allen looked up at the waitress as she waited for Rabi to be dragged over to the table. If he had known any better he would have thought that all the maids here had suspiciously oversized breasts. But of course he didn't, so he didn't pay much attention.

"Today's specials are listed on the first page." The waitress smiled as Rabi finally took his seat. "And since today is Monday, it's 'Couples Day!' So that means, that if you're here with your lover, you'll get a thirty percent discount on your meal! We like to call it the Monday Special!" She smiled.

Allen looked down at the menu. _You can't be serious…_ With a shaky hand he looked back up at the maid. "T-thanks, w-we might take a while, so we'll call you when we're ready…"

"Alright then!" and with that, she bouncifully skipped away.

As soon as she was out of earshot Allen shot daggers over at Rabi. "Rabi!" he whispered. "Are you crazy? Bringing us to a place like this! We can't afford any of these things on the menu!"

Rabi snapped out of his trans. "What do you mean '_can't afford'_…?" Snatching the menu out of Allen's hands Rabi looked over the prices, but the further down the page he went, the paler he got. "What kind of restaurant is this?" he asked, horrified. "Fifty bucks for a drink?"

Allen's head hit the table. "I don't know, but we can't just leave, now that they're pampered us so much…" Allen looked down at the fuzzy pink slippers they had given him to walk around the restaurant in.

Frantically, Rabi looked around the entire shop. Now that he wasn't drooling over the maids he noticed that they were the only 'common' looking folk in the store. Everyone else in the store looked like your average bazillionaire. Rabi turned to Allen.

"Allen, now let's calm down here for a second…"

"I am calm." Allen mumbled miserably as he looked up at Rabi.

Rabi ignored him and continued. "We've got to think about the pros and cons! Pros: we can eat delicious food made by these gorgeous beauties… all the while having them wait on us hand and foot... Cons: we won't be able to pay, so they might end up making us wear those weird costumes and serve the customers…"

The two exchanged looks of disgust.

"WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?" Rabi yelled at the top of his lungs, panicking.

"SHHH!" Allen grabbed Rabi and covered his mouth before he could yell anymore. "I've got a plan Rabi." Rabi perked up and looked at Allen intensely. Allen swallowed hard then spoke. "All we have to do is tell them that we're a couple."

Rabi's eyes widened. Allen braced himself for Rabi's deaf defying remark--

"Do you think they'll fall for it?"

Allen paused. "_WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"_ was the type of remark Allen was expecting from his best friend. But this was good too in a way! He was keeping his cool and not blowing their cover, anymore than he already had.

"I don't know if they'll accept it or not, but it's the only chance we've got." Allen said as he let go of Rabi and sat back, regaining his composure. Rabi did the same, and when they looked clean and casual enough Allen unceremoniously raised his arm, and a maid came skipping over.

"What would you like sir?" She asked--extra spunk in her voice.

"We'd like to have your…" Allen whispered. "…'Monday special'…"

"Our _what_ sir?" She leaned in closer, "You've got to speak up sir."

"We'd like your…" Allen gulped. "M-M-Monday…"

"We want the Monday Special!" Rabi announced, loud and clear, his face turning almost as scarlet as his hair.

The waitress just stared at the two of them, dropping both the pen and her paper pad to the ground with a resounding thud. All the other waitresses stopped what they were doing and turned their heads towards Rabi and Allen.

Rabi and Allen glanced at each other as the silence intensified, both thinking the exact same thought: _Crap._

"Great going _Allen_! Let's say we're a couple _Allen_! Now we're gonna get kicked out _ALLEN!_" Rabi whispered at Allen tears streaming down his face all while he maids/waitresses all crept closer and closer towards them.

"Oh, shut up Rabi! You're the one who went along with it!" Allen flustered as the maids/waitresses all squeezed closer and closer till Allen started feeling short of breath. This was supposed to have been a regular day out to town for lunch… _how did it end up like this?_

They all opened their mouths as they reached towards the two of them. Allen closed his eyes tightly as he waited for the sweet embrace of the cold hard concrete outside--

"KYAA! YAOI!"

Allen felt as though his eardrums would explode. The next few moments flashed past Allen in a blur, and the next thing he knew there was a table filled with sparkling appetizers, tantalizing entrees and delicious looking desserts all for him and Rabi.

"Great idea Allen!" Rabi said as he finished his last piece of cake and leaned back in his chair. "We gotta come here more often!" Rabi laughed.

Allen had to admit, the food was the best he'd had in a long time, but…

"Hey, I'm the one paying for this Rabi…" Allen handed the maid the cash. "It'll take me months to earn back all the money that I used today." Allen stood up and stretched. "You owe me big time…"

"Yeah, yeah squirt." Rabi sighed as he patted his lean stomach. Even after eating all that food you'd think his stomach would pop out or something. Allen just rolled his eyes as they both made their quick escape to the front door.

"Hold up lovebirds!"

Both of them turned around just as they were about to put their boots on. Standing before them was a burly looking woman, with golden hair and baby blue eyes. Firmly gripping onto each of their shoulders, she continued, "We can't go around believing everyone who says that their lovers, especially if it looks like two friends who are up to no good…"

Allen and Rabi looked at each other and smiled hesitantly, she was obviously the manager or owner of the place. And she was probably the biggest woman they had ever seen. So it wouldn't be hard to imagine that fear overshadowed them and only one thought came to mind: _She's gonna eat us!_

They had to act fast or else face the consequences. Rabi glanced over at Allen who seemed to be frozen with fear. He sighed. It was up to him to save their asses…

Rabi laughed and slipped his arms around Allen's slender waist. "What're you talkin' 'bout? Course we're lovers!" Rabi decided to go with his infectious drawl as he turned to Allen and smiled. "Right hun?"

Allen held in a look of disgust, although the feeling of Rabi holding Allen so closely and dearly to himself was something Allen found quite comforting. He blushed unwillingly as Rabi's hot breath tickled his ear. "Play along."

Unfortunately their 'lovey-dovey act' wasn't working on the manager. She looked down at them menacingly. "You sure you're lovers? You don't act close enough to be a genuine couple. You got some sort of proof or something?" She cracked her knuckles.

Rabi once again looked at Allen, who seemed to be totally ignoring the fact that they were about to get beaten up by the frightening woman. Rabi paused. In fact, Allen looked downright content in their snug embrace! Rabi smirked. "What's there to prove?" Rabi asked as he placed a hand on either side of Allen's face.

Without another thought, he pressed their lips together. And, as if they had rehearsed, all the maids in the restaurant squealed in unison, which made all the customers look their way.

Although the two of them had the attention of the entire restaurant, to Rabi, it felt as though it was just him and Allen.

_If I love him any more, I'm afraid..._

Sure, he'd kissed a couple of girls before now, and then gotten slapped and yelled at afterwards, but this was a life or death situation he had on his hands. Rabi knew he had to put on a show for the manager. _So why not add a little groping eh?_

Rabi slipped his arm up the side of Allen's shirt as the other arm held Allen's head firmly in place.

All the while, Allen was taken aback; his arms were pinned between their two bodies, so he was completely trapped. The last thing he remembered was Rabi holding him tight. Granted, Rabi was still clinging tightly onto him, but now, there was something sweet to go along with it. Allen didn't know how to react. This was his first kiss after all... _Wait… What?_ Allen's eyes widened as he felt Rabi tongue flick into his mouth for a split second.

Allen could feel his cheeks burning as he tasted the sugar from the sweet desserts still fresh on Rabi's lips and tongue. _This is unbelievable, this is crazy, this is wrong!_ Though Allen's head repeated this over and over, Allen made no attempt to stop this onslaught on his mouth.

The manager still lingered above them as the other maids all gathered around to watch the hot action. Rabi took a quick glance at the burley woman. _She still isn't satisfied?!_ Rabi began to panic as he saw her cross her arms across her chest._ How am I suppose to spice things up?_

On cue, Allen's knees give way and the two of them tumbled backwards into the counter. Girls squealed overhead with glee. _Real fangirls that's for sure..._Rabi forehead was resting on the counter above Allen's. "Allen, are you okay?" He whispered.

No answer. Rabi shrugged inwardly. And dove down for another kiss.

The manager had seen enough 'proof' around the time the red head had started molesting the younger boy with him. She should have told them to stop, her bowels were already churning in disgust, but even though she didn't believe in this kind of love, she just couldn't help but stare as the show continued. Wrapping her arms around her stomach, she would admit to herself that she wanted to see something like pictures they'd taken together or a promise ring maybe. Anything tangible would have worked... but this?

She shuddered in disgust, "Alright, alright you two! Get a room, or better yet, get out." She waved over her shoulder as she walked towards the bathrooms, clutching her stomach in attempts to ease the churning.

Rabi pulled away and took a breath of fresh air. "Hot damn! Uh… I mean, you okay Allen?" Allen had gone limp in his arms. "H-hey! Allen! Oi! ALLEN?"

_I'll break him..._

* * *

After Notes:  
Wow, its been a long while since i've written a fanfic. i had my doubts about writing this... since when did writing fanfics become so challenging?  
Oh, well... Yay, RabiAllen Love!  
Anyways, i got a little ruler happy as i was editing this, as for the italicized words that appear like what...? _Four_ times throughout this chapter, they're supposed to be Rabi's thoughts on Allen... pretty confusing huh? hehe, yeah, i decided to put em in last minute. as for the rating, i put it on M, just ta be on the safe side. who knows I'll probably put more explicit stuff later on...maybe. Hehehe... anyway, hope you liked it. tune in next time for more!

**Edited 8/1/07**


	2. Feelings

Title: Escape

Author: "teh great" M.F.

Disclaimer: all disclaimer rules apply. here and now.

Warnings: Shounan-ai/Yaoi, OOC (more than likely)

Before Notes: Did you know that over in Japan, RabiKanda is actually the popular shounen-ai couple over there? And _not_ KandaAllen like it is over here? Wow. That's pretty sweet. Eh, I love all three of them... 3some love, heh heh...

* * *

Chapter 02: Feelings

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, he's fine. He just ate too much this morning. I know, I know! No, it wasn't my fault! He's just being his usual gluttonous self ya know?"

Allen fluttered his eyes open. "Rabi…?" The smell of pine assaulted his nose as Allen sat up in the bed he was lying in. Looking around Allen saw piles, no, _mountains_ of books spread variously throughout the room. Where was he? Bookman's room or one of the upper levels of the library was Allen's safest guess. He closed his eyes as he tried to recall what had happened before he had ended up here.

Then it all hit him all at once. The food, the maids, the manager, and then, there was… the kiss.

Allen shook his head trying to block the memories from coming back, but it was no use. He held a hand up to his mouth and traced his lips with his finger. Had they really kissed? That was all just some sort of bad dream right? Allen licked his lips. No. The sugar from the desserts was still there. Heat rose in Allen's cheeks.

Unfortunately, Allen's blissful memories didn't last long—_Damn!_ Why did the back of his head hurt so much? Could it have been an akuma? No, Allen guessed it was probably Rabi's fault. Whenever he got hurt, it usually _was_ his fault.

Allen looked around to see if there was a bottle of aspirin around. He was about to get out of bed to search when he heard footsteps coming down the hallway. The door creaked open and Rabi's broad back appeared. He was leaning over something that he was dragging into the room. Allen blushed unwillingly. _What should I do? _Allen asked himself. _I don't know what I should say!_ And so without enough time to think things through, he went with his gut instinct which told him: pretend to be asleep!

"Jesus, this is heavy…" Rabi dragged a large washbasin filled with water into the room and placed it next to Allen's bed. Then he set a chair down in front of it and sat down, placing his feet into the basin. "Ahhhh…!" Rabi leaned back as the cool water inundated his sores. He looked over at Allen who still seemed to be sleeping soundly. Rabi sighed. _Jesus bean sprout, you think you'd be a lot easier to drag back here… I never would have guessed you weigh a ton when you're out._

Rabi watched Allen lying in his bed peacefully. It was like their very first encounter. Komui had burst through Bookman's front door with a very bloodied up looking lad, followed closely by another who was carrying an equally bloodied lass. After they had wrapped the two up they were put into separate rooms to recover.

Rabi was to help bookman watch over the two of them since they were both weak and easy targets for akuma. At the time, Rabi pouted. He had other more important things to do, like wreaking havoc in the library. But he did as the panda told him.

He was to guard Allen's room while Bookman helped guard Rinali's. Rabi recalled one day, while he was bored out of his mind, he had sat down next to Allen's bed and watched him, just like he was doing right now. Allen's face hadn't changed a bit, his pale face and white hair reminded Rabi of some character from a fairy tale, and with the light from the sunset hitting him at such an angle, he looked just like an angel.

Rabi reached over and brushed a few hairs from Allen's face. "Did you like it that much?" he asked out loud, a smile creeping across his face as he remembered the coffee house kiss. A tinge of pink formed on Allen's cheeks and Rabi raised a brow.

"Hey, you sure, you're sleeping?" Rabi stood and leaned over Allen. He leaned in so close that Allen could feel Rabi's warm breath on his neck.

Allen's blush deepening. What was he suppose to do? Should he continue to pretend he was sleeping or wake up? Allen had a feeling that by now Rabi knew he was faking it. Allen gave up and peeked his eyes open only a second too late. Rabi had taken the liberty of waking up his princess with _true love's first kiss…_ Although, Rabi knew darn well that it wasn't _the first._

_Eh, oh well._

Allen's eyes widened as his entire body stiffened.

Rabi opened his emerald green eye, then pulled away and smiled.

"Mornin' bean sprout!"

Allen stared at him with a horrified look on his face, but Rabi just unconsciously licked his lips, seemingly unaffected by the small peck. "How long you been awake?" he asked curiously, sitting back down in his chair, feet in the basin.

"Since earlier, when you were talking on the phone…" Allen answered as he sat up. What should he do? Demand Rabi for a reason as to why he just kissed him, or just ignore it completely and pretend it never happened. "Sorry about that." Allen said, making up his mind.

"What?" Rabi looked down at his feet in the cool tub of water. "Sorry that ya passed out on me? Well, let me tell you this, we're even now!" Rabi lifted a foot and rubbed the sole. "Jeez, you're not as light I thought you were gonna be."

An awkward expression crept across Allen's face. "Sorry about that, it's just… that…"

Rabi grinned. "I stole your first kiss did I?"

Strike.

Allen blushed and looked down at his hands that seemed to be sweating more than they should have been.

Rabi's hand landed on top of Allen's. "Oi, it's all right. I guess I went a little far for the first one yeah? But I couldn't help myself, your lips were so soft, it's like I couldn't stop…" Allen felt his face burn.

"Anyways, it was a life or death situation!" Rabi stood up, grinning. "We can't have members of the church wearin' bunny and maid outfits serving upper class scum now can we?"

A triumphant pose followed, Allen couldn't help but laugh at Rabi's usual antics. Rabi smiled a little sheepishly at Allen's delight. "See? It was for the church. Lucky for you, there weren't any akuma on our way back, at least I don't think so…" he shrugged.

Allen paused. _It was for the church._ He looked up at Rabi who was itching his messy hair. _I see… Rabi's just doing all of this for kicks isn't he? _Allen blinked. _Not because he likes me or anything, right?_

Both of them could feel the sudden awkwardness that filled the room. Allen was the first to speak. "Hey Rabi, have you read all of these books?" he asked as he scooted towards the edge of the bed to get a better look.

Rabi turned and gazed at the mountains looming behind him. "Yeah, I guess I have! Wow, I'm just a little lazy to put em back huh?" He sighed, "Bookman keeps telling me to do it, but I'm a busy guy! I don't have time for that kinda house cleaning stuff."

"Really…" Allen had his doubts, but then looked at all the books and thought: _He reads all these books, but his attitude doesn't really set him as a 'bookworm' or anything._ He watched as Rabi went over and picked up a book and came back with it.

"I love reading." Rabi opened the book and ran his finger down the first page. "Sometimes life isn't as amazin' as I'd imagine it to be... but when I read, it's like a whole new world has opened itself up for me." Allen watched as Rabi cradled the book gently in his hands. He averted his gaze down to the ground. _Listening to Rabi's gentle tone of voice just now..._

"For me, being an exorcist is my life. There's nothing else out there that I'm interested in." Allen stated. "Sure, gambling and cheating was interesting for a while. But it's not a way of life for me, like exorcising is." Allen sighed. "It would be nice to have something else I devoted my free time to, like you do Rabi."

Rabi's heart skipped a beat as he watched Allen sitting on the edge of the bed; his gaze cast downward a slight blush grazing his cheeks. _I... I want to hold him._

"How about me?" Rabi blurted out before he could stop himself.

"W-what?" Allen looked up, awake, but confused. "What do you mean?"

Rabi blinked for a second. "What do you mean, _what do you mean_?" Rabi remarked back sarcastically. _I guess Allen's the dense-type._

This time it was Allen's turn to blink. Did he mishear him or what? "Ah, never mind… I should be getting back to headquarters." Allen sighed as he got to his feet. Suddenly Allen's entire head panged.

It seemed as though the bang on the back of his head, the memories from the coffee place returning, and all of Allen's thoughts about life all surfacing in less than five minutes was no good for Allen's brain. Dizzily he fell backwards onto the bed.

"Allen!" Rabi looked down at Allen as he lay there once again. "Knocked out from a fever huh?" He sighed, relieved that it wasn't anything serious.

* * *

"Kanda! You have a call from Rabi!" Rinali jumped up and down frantically, trying to get the attention of the particularly ill-mannered person. The buzz of the crowd didn't help much as she continued shouting. Realizing that he wouldn't hear her, she tucked her hair behind her ear and ran into the crowded cafeteria after her target. 

"Kanda! KANDA!" Rinali finally reached him and put a hand on his shoulder. He had just settled down to eat his soba, when the Li girl interrupted him.

"What do you want?" He asked coldly as he slurped up his soba, his long raven hair tied up and out of the way.

"You have a call from Rabi. He said it's urgent, but he couldn't tell me." Rinali sighed, _probably just another joke on Rabi's part. He's always pulling them on Kanda, and Kanda always falls for them._

"That idiot, what's he calling for?" Kanda stood up from his seat, bringing his soba with him. "This better be important." He growled as his soba dangerously sloshed and splashed around in its bowl.

The two of them left the cafeteria and went into a separate room across the hall. "Don't get too upset if it's just a prank again." Rinali warned as she left for the cafeteria once again.

"What?" Kanda fumed. He grabbed the receiver and shouted. "WHAT ARE YOU UP TO RABI?" He could hear Rabi's infectious laugh on the other end.

"Woah, woah, woah Yuu! What did I tell you? Relax! If you don't, you'll start sproutin' premature grey hairs, which would be really gross..."

Kanda slurped up his noodles. "Shut up!" he swallowed. "What's so urgent that you have to call during dinner?"

Rabi laughed lightly on the other end. "I need you to come over and pick something up Yuu-chan!"

Kanda slammed the receiver down. _Idiot._

* * *

"Eh? He hung up!" Rabi stared at the receiver then shrugged. "Looks like I get Allen all to myself!" he joked out loud. Hanging up the phone up, Rabi made his way back upstairs to where Allen was. He had taken the liberty of taking care of Allen for the time being by putting a cool cloth on his head and taking off his shirt. He didn't know about the shirt part, but he knew that the cloth thing was right. 

_Should I strip the rest of him? Would that help the situation at all…?_ Rabi stared out the window then smiled. "Aww, Yuu is bakawaii…" (1)

"Oi Yuu-chan!" Rabi greeted as Kanda stormed up the staircase towards him.

"What is it? What's so important that I had to miss dessert for?" He pulled out his mugen. "This better be good, or else you're dead."

Rabi laughed. "Yuu-chan, you're the same as always…" He hung an arm around Kanda's neck as he dragged him to Allen's room. "I wanted you to come by and pick up this little kitty I found."

Kanda stumbled into the room and looked around. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Rabi gestured over to the bed.

"What?" Kanda crossed his arms.

"What do you mean _what?_" Rabi looked over at the bed. His jaw dropped. "WHERE'S ALLEN!"

Kanda's eyes widened as he stumbled. "What! You were talking about Moyashi?" He scowled. "So, this _was_ a waste of my time." He kicked at a nearby pile of books. "Damn idiot."

"Never mind that!" Rabi dove into the piles of books around the room. "Help me find Allen!"

Kanda stood and watched as books went flying here and there across the room.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING I TOLD YA TO LOOK!" Rabi threw a book at Kanda. He sidestepped it and sat down on another pile.

"No."

Rabi ignored his refusal and started shouting, "So help me god! I'll find you ALLEN!"

Kanda could stand no more of this nonsense. "I'm leaving." He said as he rose to his feet.

"No wait!" Rabi crawled across the floor, over small piles of books here and there, and caught a hold of Kanda's wrist. He didn't want Kanda to leave yet, the fun was only starting after all. "You can't leave without Allen! He's… He's got a fever, you need to take him back to Komui and get him some medicine or something!"

Kanda glared down at Rabi, Rabi looked back up at Kanda hopefully.

"C'mon boss." Rabi grinned. Kanda sighed and snapped his arm from Rabi's grasp. _A few minutes couldn't hurt._

"…Rabi? …Kanda?" Allen was leaning against the doorframe. His eyes glazed over, shirt a miss, and face still flushed. Rabi leaped to his feet. "Allen! Where'd you run off to?" Without waiting for a reply Rabi pulled Allen into a hug, nuzzling his face into the side of Allen's soft white hair.

Kanda watched the scene, frozen in place. _What the hell is going on here?_ The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end for a second before Kanda walked over and literally _pried_ the two of them apart.

"Alright, we found him. Now let me take him back to HQ." Kanda said as he picked Allen up in his arms like a doll. Allen, who was still feeling out of it, didn't complain.

Rabi pouted. "That's not fair! The second he comes back to me, you take him away!"

Kanda turned around and glared at Rabi with his deep blue, almost black, eyes. "If you didn't want me to take him away, why did you call me in the first place!"

Rabi smiled. "Oh right." He then gave his friend a pat on the back. "Fine then. I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Rabi called happily as Kanda stormed away.

* * *

Kanda walked out the front door of the library, Allen sleeping soundly in his arms, still without his shirt on. "Stupid Rabi. Stupid. Idiot. Dumbass. Baka Rabi." 

Kanda could feel the stares of finders and science department members as he walked up the endless flights of stairs to get to Allen's room. _He's got some nerve… The library is INSIDE headquarters, why doesn't he just drag moyashi up to his room, or better yet, get someone else to do it? That idiot sure is lazy…_

_And what's with moyashi? Where's his damn shirt? What were those two doing? And how'd this kid get a fever? Damn these rejects are pathetic!_

Kanda made his way up the stairs and kicked open Allen's door. Carelessly, he threw Allen onto his bed, and wiped his hands off.

He glanced around. This was his first time being in the bean sprout's room. He walked over to the desk. Not like he cared, but he was just checking out the scene, making sure Allen wasn't hiding some sort of secret fetish or anything.

His eyes finally fell upon a picture frame on the desk. It was the usual group photo they took once a year, all of the exorcists in their division that wanted to keep useless memories in a convenient photo had one. Kanda was probably the only one who didn't. He looked closely at it. There he was, in the corner, scowling while Rabi hung his arm around his neck, and Allen just smiled his goofy looking smile. Kanda remembered that day…

He looked over at Allen who had been carelessly flopped onto his bed.

_Moyashi._

It was Kanda who had come up with the nickname for him. And it was Kanda who was the first to 'greet' Allen, but why was it? Why was it that Allen seemed to be so far away from him?

Kanda walked over and set Allen in bed properly, then tucked him in. He looked down at the resting boy, a twinge of pain running through his heart.

He wanted to enjoy life. Just like he used to when he was younger. When he was closer to everyone.

But now, he was independent. He didn't need to cling onto Rabi, or anyone, anymore.

But the more days that passed, the more he would find himself watching Allen and Rabi as the two of them ran off and buddied around. Why was it that these pointless feelings came to him? Kanda turned his back to Allen's limp body. The one emotion he felt strongly at that moment was regret.

He knew that Rabi liked Allen. But, even though Kanda wouldn't admit it, he too had a liking towards the annoying brat. Maybe it wasn't as strong as Rabi's feelings, but it was still there, it still existed.

Allen and his goofy smile, his kind heart, his soft hair, his honesty, his loyalty, his love for every living thing... even though Kanda found all of these characteristics annoying and pointless. He still enjoyed them nonetheless.

There was a time, long ago, when Kanda felt simple feelings, feelings such as happiness and content. But as he grew older, everyone around him seemed to stay the same. Why was it that Kanda was the one who had to change?

He scoffed at his own thoughts. It didn't matter anymore. These complicated feelings he felt now: love, jealousy, hate. They didn't matter. As long as he stayed the way he was and completely shut everyone out, Kanda wouldn't have to be hurt by anyone in the process.

Kanda closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. _This is what I deserve._

He got to his feet. "I'll send Komui in. He should be able to fix your stupid fever." Kanda walked to the door, which he had put a hole in when he had kicked it. "Great, just great."

"T-thank you."

Kanda jumped, then turned around and saw Allen looking over at him. "Go to bed!" Kanda yelled as he slammed the door behind him, Allen smiling all the while.

Kanda stood out in the hallway clutching at his chest. "I hate this."

* * *

Rabi jumped onto his bed, the body heat that Allen had left still lingered. He grabbed his pillow and inhaled deeply into it, Allen's sweet scent still present. 

Turning over onto his back, Rabi looked up at the ceiling and inhaled deeply.

"This is a problem."

* * *

After Notes:  
1:Bakawaii—it's just what it sounds like. Rabi's saying that Kanda's so stupid that it's cute… hehe…  
Kudos to Rabi for stealin another kiss! Hehehe…  
Thanks for the support! Love u guys. XD  
And of course, tune in next time for more!

**Edited 8/1/07:** So I kinda fixed the, um, description of HQ. Yay towers! And also, I fixed up a lot on the Kanda conflict. I love Kanda, but these feelings are too constricting to start off with. I tried to make him a wee bit more er, what's the word... enigmatic, kinda like he usually is (man, I need to get myself an editor). Plus, I hate to have Kanda and Rabi fighting over Allen-chan. It's so sad. TTnTT


	3. Missions

Title: Escape 

Author: "teh great" M.F.

Disclaimer: all disclaimer rules apply. here and now.

Warnings: Shounan-ai/Yaoi, OOC (more than likely)

Before Notes: I just wanna start off by saying… Thank you so much for the support! TTwTT you all make me so happy to be a novice writer. And although I'd love to sound like a genius and take all the credit for making up bakawaii from the previous chapter, sadly, I can't. cuz, I didn't… I read it off of some forum; they were talking about Tamaki from Ouran Host Club being bakawaii. X3

But anywho enough of my blab, READ AND ENJOY! I don't mind reviews either. X3

* * *

Chapter 03: Missions

"Sorry about yesterday…"

Kanda stared at Allen as he stood before him, scratching the back of his head and looking off in some other direction. Oh yeah, Kanda could _definitely _feel the sincerity in Allen's voice.

"You should be idiot!" Glass rattled on the walls as Kanda shouted angrily at Allen. "Who goes off and eats so much food they get sick! I knew something like this would happen to you sooner or later moyashi!"

"That had nothing to do with—" Allen blushed. "Never mind! I take it back, just thanks for dragging me to my room!" Allen yelled angrily. For some reason, whenever he talked to Kanda, they always ended up yelling at each other. "And don't call me that! How many times do I have to tell you!"

"Well, good morning you two!"

Rabi beamed at the pair of quarreling buffoons. He just so happened to be on his way to find Allen but conveniently for him, both Allen and Kanda's voices rung out loud and clear for Rabi to follow.

"G'morning…" Allen tried hard not to make eye contact with Rabi. It was embarrassing enough to have been kissed by him… _twice_, but to wake up this morning without his shirt, now _that_ was suspicious.

"What do you want?" Kanda hissed.

"Can't I just say good morning to my two favorite people?" Rabi smiled slyly. "Oh yeah! Komui said he's got some missions lined up for us, so let's go see him shall we?"

"Fine." Kanda stormed off without waiting for the other two.

"You coming Allen?" Rabi asked as he grabbed his hand. Allen blushed and nodded. "Y-yeah… let's go…"

"Feeling better already Allen?" Komui asked, his hands inching towards his tools as he spoke. Allen shivered, as he remembered the pain from those so-called 'tools' that Komui used to fix his arm.

"Yes! I feel great thanks!"

"What's the mission?" Kanda asked, before Komui could digress any further.

"Oh right. I'll be sending you three to my China!" Komui smiled widely. "We've received information about some innocence there that might be bad news for us here. Thus far we don't have enough background on the innocence specifically, but we do have information on the user."

"The user?" Rabi blinked then sat down on the couch in front of Komui's desk. "You mean someone's using the innocence… as in…"

"An exorcist?" Allen finished.

"Not quite." Komui took off his glasses and rubbed the bridges of his nose. "This is a dangerous mission. That's why I'm going to send the three of you exorcists."

"I'm not going." Kanda objected. "Not with those two idiots."

"No objections!" Komui said, "Rinali-chan's already on another mission, as are the other exorcists. And right now the three of you are the only able-bodied exorcists around here that we can send." Komui picked up his bunny cup and took a sip of coffee. "The Asia branch of the Black Order should be able to help you out with the details. But for now, you guys need to get there as quickly as possible, got it?"

"Wait!" Allen stepped forward. "Are we going to have to fight this exorcist?"

"Save your questions Allen." Komui turned and started walking towards the door. "Now, if you'll follow me now."

The three of them followed Komui out his office, to basement-levels of headquarters. They finally came upon a door with caution tape and blood smeared all over it, not to mention, thirty locks all forbidding entrance.

"Here we are!" Komui smiled suddenly breaking his solemn character. He triumphantly put his hands on his hips. "Isn't it beautiful?"

Allen shuddered while he stared at the door. Rabi scratched the back of his neck. "You sure you got the right door?"

"Of course!" Komui laughed as he picked up a phone on the wall nearby. "HELLO? Hey, Bak-chan, pick up!"

"… Baku's not here… is this Komui?" a voice rang on the other end.

"Oh Fou!" Komui nodded. "Yes, it's me! I'm going to be sending three of my exorcists on over, is that all right?"

"…it's about the thief isn't it?"

"Yep! I'll be sending them now!"

"W-wait…"

Komui smiled and hung up.

"Who was that?" Allen asked, hesitantly. _And was it okay for him to just hang up like that?_

"That was Fou. She's the gate and guardian to the Asia branch!" Komui pulled out a ring full of keys from his pocket. "You'll be meeting her in just a few seconds here…"

The three of them watched as Komui took one especially old looking skeleton key and place it into the largest lock on the door. With multiple clicks all the locks on the door opened then the door heavily creaked open. Komui took a step back as they all gazed in. They could see nothing, nothing but black emptiness beyond the door. Komui smiled. "Have a safe trip!" He called as he pushed them through the threshold.

"DAMN YOOOOOOOUU!" Komui grinned as Kanda's voice echoed from within the doorway, and without a second thought he slammed it shut once again.

Allen squeezed his eyes shut as he felt his body falling at violently fast speeds. Even though he couldn't see anything, he could feel the air rushing painfully past him. Then as quickly as the sensation had come, it was gone

Allen opened his eyes to find him in a completely different place. The air smelt crisp and fresh, and there was much more lighting in the room, definitely not the same atmosphere as headquarters.

"O-Oi Allen…"

Allen looked down to see that he had been the last to land, second had been Rabi and unfortunately Kanda was the first, on the bottom.

"Oops, sorry about that!" Allen hastily got to his feet. "Are you guys ok?"

Rabi smiled. "I'm fine!" he turned to Kanda. "How about you?"

"Shut up. Just shut up." Kanda stiffly stood and patted himself off.

"Well looks like you guys'll be a lot of help…"

They turned to see a small girl with an outrageous outfit on. She stared back at them with a sour expression on her face. "Thanks a lot for wasting my time. Now listen up!" She barked. "I don't want you guys to waste our time. We've got a real situation on our hands."

Kanda balled his hand up into a fist. _Why you little…_

"Fou? Who are you yelling at?" A man appeared around the corner, he had on a funny hat and was a little on the short side.

"Baku, these are the exorcists that Komui sent." She pointed at the lot of them. "Hurry up and tell them the details. I don't feel like playing nanny anymore."

"Woah Kanda! Calm down!" Rabi cried as he held Kanda back, his mugen slicing the air. Allen sighed.

"Seems like you guys are energetic enough…" Baku turned to them. His appearance was close to that of Komui's. Except for the curls, the glasses, the stature, the annoying grin, the crazy tools… Okay, so in a way, he wasn't all that close… but he _did_ have a peculiar looking hat…

"Well, I'm Baku, the leader of the Asia branch of the black religious organization. Kanda, Allen, and Rabi, please follow me, while I tell you about our situation."

"Oi, how'd you know our names?" Rabi asked as they walked down the grand hallway.

"I know all the names of people who enter into our branch, its part of my job! Of course, Komui telling me your names ahead of time didn't hurt either."

"Eh…" Allen hung his head, he could definitely see similarities between Komui and this guy.

"I won't waste your guys' time and so I'll get straight to the point. As you may have heard we've found a potential exorcist who has successfully been able to infuse with innocence. Where he found it, we are still trying to find out. This man who possesses the innocence is a thief. He's got a success rate of over 150 percent, he hits beyond the goal mark, and it's all thanks to his innocence."

"So he's an exorcist like us." Rabi crossed his arms behind his head. "Have you tried to get him to join the Organization?"

"Yes." Baku stopped in his tracks. "But each time he's refused to join us. No matter how many times we've offered, the answer from him was always a clear no. What his motives for not joining are unknown. But we can only guess that he's out for his own selfish needs. So we need to stop him before he does something we all regret."

"Wouldn't Rinali be a good member to have on this team then? I'm sure that she'd be able to catch him in no time." Allen suggested.

Baku blushed. "N-no! She's already on another mission anyhow… I've got confidence in you guys to stop this thief. He's pretty old fashion, sending notes to the local authorities, telling details of what he's going to steal at what hour…"

"I don't see why this is such a big deal." Kanda muttered. "What is it you want us to do?"

"We need to convert him so that he's on our side before its too late… If worst comes to worse, we'll have to end by taking away his innocence." Baku looked out the window into the synthetic white sky. "With every accomplished burglary, he gets more and more daring… This time he says that he'll be stealing the life of the minister of this country."

"W-WHAT!"

Allen looked down at his left hand as it involuntarily twitched. _Does that mean… We've got to kill him if he doesn't change his mind?_

"When's he going to strike next?" Kanda asked.

"He says he'll take the life of the minister by the end of the month." Baku took out a sheet of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. "Here's the note. We've got the minister in our safety here at HQ. So far we've upped the security, and Fou's on patrol 24/7… but he's still got his innocence, so there's no telling if he's able or unable to pry his way in…"

"Do you know what kind of innocence he's got?" Rabi asked, "Cuz it might be important so we know what we're up against…"

"We've heard a bunch of rumors and many different witness accounts of his powers. We've read about all the reports and have looked through them all, but there are just too many different stories. In truth, we don't have a very solid idea of what powers he really has."

"Well, do you have any leads on the guy?"

"Yes, he lives somewhere in the city at the edge of the desert." Baku leaned against the wall. "It's one of the most peaceful cities on the planet. Believe it or not, there are no akuma in the city. The people are pretty conceited and only looking out for number one. So, it's one city that the Earl just can't seem to get a grip on."

"Wow. Sounds kinda almost, unreal." Allen pondered.

"Yeah, it really is…" Baku sulked just thinking about it. "You'll have to go there and ask around, but make sure you aren't wearing your crosses in plain sight. The thief already knows how we function. And even though there aren't any akumas," Baku turned around and faced them. "Do be careful… either way."

Fou suddenly materialized next to Baku. "Ready to go?"

"Yes, they've got all they need Fou. Please make sure you place them somewhere that's not too conspicuous."

"Yeah, yeah." Fou held out her hand. "Come on."

Kanda, Rabi and Allen followed and placed their hands on top of hers. Allen blinked, and just as he did, he found himself and the others standing in a deep wooded area. "Where?"

"This is where I'll leave you guys. Our HQ is hundreds of kilometers beneath this city…here take these…" She tossed to each of them a small communicator. "Put that in your ear and we'll able to communicate through that. And lastly," Fou added. "I know you've heard a lot of orders and whatnot, but here, put these on, Baku's orders."

Fou tossed a pile of clothes at each of their feet and then looked at the three of them. "Good luck. And don't get yourselves killed!"

Within a blink of an eye, she disappeared once again. The three of them looked at each other. They still had on their exorcist uniforms. "Better do as she said." Rabi said as he put the communicator in his ear, then stripped off his shirt and picked up the clothes at his feet.

Allen blushed. Kanda followed.

As soon as they were all dressed and inconspicuous, they made their way through the thicket towards the sound of the city.

People hustled and bustled passed them, as cars sped past on the streets. Allen couldn't help but stare at all the interesting people that walked passed on the sidewalk. Some had hair with shocking colors dyed into them, while other didn't have any at all. Others had piercing all over while others still had tattoos over every visible inch of skin… Allen had never seen such peculiar looking people like this before.

"This is one crazy city…" Rabi whispered to the two of them.

"Yeah? Well why don't you take a look at what you're wearing…" Kanda added miserably.

Rabi looked down to see that he was given jeans and a leather shirt with wristbands and bracelets galore. He blinked. "Not bad!" He turned to Allen only to feel blood running down his nose. Allen had on some baggy shorts, with fish net stockings underneath, while his top was tight enough for Rabi to make out every curve of Allen's lithe figure. Of course, they had even gone so far as to make the left sleeve long, while the right was sleeveless, and conveniently enough, he also had a glove to cover up his left hand to make sure that his anti-akuma weapon was covered. It was an odd look, but then, compared to the rest of the people on the streets, he fit in perfectly.

Rabi turned to Kanda and almost laughed up a storm. Kanda was given a jacket and long pants, with buckles…virtually everywhere it seemed…

"Not a word." Kanda said as he placed his hand on his mugen. "Not a word."

"_Alright, sounds like you guys are in the city…"_ a voice rung through their heads, Baku had turned on the communication and was now speaking to all of them directly. _"I want you guys to split up to find information. Allen, you take the bazaar district, Rabi you take the back allies and Kanda, you take the main streets. You'll be able to talk to the shop owners and people on the streets, asking them about the thief. He's the only one in the city in his league. So people will talk about him… he's kind of a local hero to some..."_

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Kanda grumbled as he started walking away from the other two towards the main streets.

"_Yeah, finding information will be a piece of cake. I just need you guys to use your good judgment to see through lies and find the truths."_

"How are we suppose to know that!" Rabi asked. "That's kinda hard if you ask me."

"_Just follow your gut instinct! This is a complicated mission…put together in a short time period. So be careful and good luck! If you find anything of importance, contact the others and myself!"_

The three of them headed off into their separate directions.

Since they were the first ones to be on the scene … they knew they had to be extra careful… but this was truly an odd mission for all of them.

An almost perfect town not infected with akumas, but with one big pest control problem, and filled with many, many, _many_ different types of people in it.

Allen pocketed his map of the city as he stood in the entranceway of the bazaar district. There were people shouting all over the place, and with every step he took he couldn't help but bump into other people.

"'S-scuse me…" Allen stuttered as he finally made it to a nearby stand. "Wow…" He stared down at all the valuables, shimmering jewels, and golden statues all glittered atop the table.

"Ah, you've got a good eye sir! These are some of the finest you'll find in the world!" The man had a funny turban on, and Allen could easily tell he was lying about the sales pitch but went along with it anyway.

"Ah, so I see." Allen blinked. "But you display these so openly. Aren't you afraid of…" Allen looked left and right and whispered. "Thieves?"

The salesman laughed heartily. "You're a funny boy! That is what a bazaar is. I display my merchandise to get the attention of my customers! Thieves do not bode well here anyway." He pointed at a pole that held up his stand. On it, there were scratch marks that looked as though they were counting something off. "Those are the number of men who have been caught stealing." He then pointed at another pole. "That is the number of men who have escaped."

Allen stared at the one lone mark on the pole of thieves who escaped. "Might that mark be for, the thief that everyone's talking about?"

The salesman stared at Allen for a second before nodding. "Yes. You must be another admirer who has come to the city to get a glimpse of the man?"

Allen hesitated for a second before he nodded. The man just sighed. "It is true that that man is great. But let me warn you, that man is as evil as he is great." He itched his forehead next to the turban. "All of us here in this district know that it is in vain for us to hide our valuables from him. If he wants them, he will get them."

Allen blinked. "Wow. I've only heard about him from my aunt who lives here. But I didn't think she was telling me the truth."

The man took a step forward and shook his head. "Oh, but what your aunt told you must have been all true. One grave day when the thief decided to target this district, we were all prepared in our stalls, the streets were still busy with customers, but we were still on our toes. Then. Right at noon like he said, he appeared, wearing a black cloak, but the thing was, it wasn't just one of him, he appeared in front of all our stalls all at the same moment. He was there for a second before he disappeared. When we all checked on all our hidden valuables, they were gone."

"Amazing." Allen whispered. "But how is it possible?"

"He is a great thief. Great but evil."

"Seems as though everyone's been able to pull through though." Allen said, turning and looking around at the stalls and stall owners.

"Yes." The man agreed. "Everyone took the robbery pretty hard. Everyone except for that damn brat though."

"Oh?" Allen perked up his head. "What do you mean?"

"That stall over there…" The man pointed across the street at a stall that was barely visible between two towering buildings. "That brat was gone the day it happened. He told us he was sick, but we all think otherwise. When he came the next day, none of his valuables were missing. He was the only one on this street. Very suspicious we are of him, even now. But no one dares to say anything."

"Why not?"

"For fear that he may be the thief, or an accomplice. If we were to get on the bad side of that thief, we'd be robbed poor."

Allen nodded. "I see."

"Perhaps it because he sells mostly useless junk." The man pondered. "But lately, he's been able to gain more interesting artifacts that one could imagine. So while the rest of us are going down thanks to that thief, it seems as though that stall gets more and more wealthier."

"Huh." Allen looked back at the man and thanked him before running off across the street to the stall in question. He had gotten enough information from the man to be more than suspicious of the 'brat' as well.

"Hello there!" Allen greeted as he walked up to the stall, putting on a disarming smile.

The boy who sat behind the stall had messy looking brown hair. If it hadn't been for the pins pinning them up, his bangs would more than likely covers his eyes. The back of his hair was cut short and was spiked all over. His clothes were somewhat like Rabi's, his nails painted black, and a dark steel piercing through the bottom corner of his lip. Allen couldn't help but stare at oddity that sat in front of him. He shook his head slightly and noticed that the boy had music blasting from his headphones and was reading a magazine, which didn't look too child-friendly. The boy grunted back as his reply. Allen strained a smile as he looked down at the items. There were shrunken heads, dried newts, creepy crawlies, and vast amounts of other mysteriously forbidden looking items.

But among all of the items Allen couldn't help but stare at one such item that didn't seem to fit in. It was a simple necklace with a rusted bronze locket on it. Allen picked it up and attempted to open it.

"You want it?" the boy asked as he stood from his seat. Allen took a step back. The boy seemed to be around Rinali's age, as he stood a few inches taller than Allen.

"What's inside it?" Allen asked as he struggled to open the locket.

"A soul." The boy looked down at him.

Allen froze. "W-what?" He almost dropped the locket, but caught it just in time before it landed in a green bowl full of only god knew what.

"It's the soul of the former owner." Allen felt uneasy, as the boy seemed to look straight through Allen with his blank eyes. "The rust is from their blood, whilst they agonized in their last moments of life."

Allen put the locket down. "Come now…" he sweated. "Why is it that you're the only stall here that sells these kinds of things? It seems like the others all sell something more, or should I say less, wait a sec, but that stall over there… actually…" Allen's brow wrinkled as he thought of the right way to word his thoughts.

"You gonna buy that?" The boy asked once again as he pointed to the locket. "Not like you have a choice."

Allen stopped with his flustering and looked down at it. "Why? What'd I do?"

Allen gasped as he looked down at the locket that was dented and chipped. During his attempt to open it, Allen must have used a little more strength than he thought.

"That's gonna be 30,000 big ones." The boy said as he held out his hand.

Allen gasped. He had spent most of his money on luncheon the other day with Rabi, and hadn't replenished his wallet since. Allen guessed how much he had by the weight of it sitting in his pocket and assumed the worst. He didn't have enough.

"I'm sorry… I don't have enough…" Allen flustered as he checked his pockets to make sure that Baku hadn't slipped any extra cash into the pockets for moments like this.

The boy smirked as he leaned across his stall. Allen blinked as he stared face-to-face at the stall-owner. "You're going to have to pay that off somehow…"

Allen stuttered as he stared at the crescent ring pierced through the lip in front of him. "C-C'mon…" Allen laughed. "How about I give you my uhm…"

"…virginity?"

"WHAT!" Allen jumped back a couple of feet.

The boy smiled as he swept some stray strands of hair from his face. "That's sweet. You really are a virgin." He smiled wickedly.

Allen turned around. "H-h-hey you guys. I need you to come down to the bazaar-district and lend me some cash!" he whispered frantically.

"_What the hell."_ Kanda's voice rang. _"There's no way that I'm going all the way over there just to hand you some cash… its your own damn fault, bean sprout."_

"_Sorry Allen, but I'm kinda busy. What'd you do this time anyway? You're usually careful with your money, but hey, you can always gamble your way out of debt right?"_

"Oh… that's right!"

Allen turned back around to the waiting lad. "How about I play you a game of cards for it?"

He blinked. "You think you'll be able to beat me at it?"

Allen smiled, "I'm sure of it."

The boy smiled back. "Fine. If you win, I'll let you keep that locket, free of charge. But if I win, you're coming home with."

Allen hesitated. _He's just trying to psyche me out, that's all._ Allen shook his head quickly then looked at the boy. "It's a deal!"

"Alright. But if I catch you cheating, you automatically lose."

"W-what?" Allen chuckled lightly. "Sure, s-same goes for you!" Allen was a pro at cheating, and throughout all fifteen years of his life, he hadn't once been caught. There was no possible way he would be found out by this amateur. No way.

ooo

"I LOST?!"

* * *

After Notes:

So for this chapter, I kind of went ahead onto missions and stuff huh? Sorry to disappoint those of you who were looking for some HOT YAOI ACTION… Cuz ya didn't get any. XO  
Yeah, I kinda got away from the relationships a little in this chapter, but don't worry, it'll be back! Next chapter hopefully! Gah, I'm so glad I finished this chapter before Labor Day weekend ended! Otherwise, I wouldn't have ever gotten to it. Sorry that this chapter took FOREVER to update! I'll try to post the next chapter up soon! X3  
And sorry for the half-assed state of this chapter (which include all inconsistencies you may find) just… ignore them! I was typing all of this while I had like, two and a half hours of sleep running through my system. Ehh…  
Well! As always, tune in next time for more! XD

**Edited 8/1/07:** OH NOES!!!! While editing this, it took me forever to decide whether or not to get rid of the spiel at the beginning with Lavi confessing his feelings from his POV. I finally decided to get rid of it. But please don't worry! I might consider adding back in. And I fixed a lot of the dialogue in this chapter. I tried to make it more easy to follow, with lotsa more details about the thief. The dialogue between Allen and the turban man is really the most significant change.


	4. Lessons

Title: Escape

Author: "teh great" M.F.

Disclaimer: all disclaimer rules apply. here and now.

Warnings: Shounan-ai/Yaoi, OOC (more than likely)

Before Notes: OMGI'LLASSUREYOUTHATALLENDOESN'TGETRAPED! (For this chapter at least…) X3 Thank you so much for all your love! (If Allen were to be raped, I'd make sure it's Rabi who'd rape him)!

* * *

Chapter 04: Lessons

Allen sat in front of the shop stall as people passed by. The streetlights flickered on one by one as the shopkeepers were now closing up, ready to go home after a long day of hard work.

"That's thirteen outta twenty five." The brunette cleaned up the cards and started putting away his merchandise. Allen was frozen in place in front of the stall as the sky got darker and darker outside.

_I'm afraid I have a rival… A rival…_ Allen, still paralyzed, felt a sudden chill run down his neck. _But now that I've lost… that means that I'll have to pay the consequences._ Struggling with all his might, Allen turned and looked at the boy who was all packed up and ready to go home.

He held his hand out. "Ready to go? Sweetie?" He smiled.

Allen was speechless as he was being dragged down the street. "I-Is there any other way for me t-t-to—"

"Nope." The boy looked over his shoulder at Allen. There was a slight shimmer of sadistic pleasure in the back of his dark eyes. "A deal's a deal."

Allen planted his feet firmly on the ground. "I'm sorry. But I can't do this. I can't go with you."

"Sure you can!"

Before he knew it, Allen's feet lifted off the ground. Blood rushed to his cheeks as the boy held him like a groom would hold his newlywed wife.

"GAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! PUT ME DOWN BEFORE I—!" Allen ran out of breath as he used the majority of his energy kicking and screaming and trying to get out of the grasp of this demented man's arms.

"Then would you like me to take you down to the police station? That's the only other place I'd be willing to take you…"

"I-I can't be paraded around like this! Please!" Allen said as he remembered his mission.

The boy blinked at him. "You're lying to me aren't you?"

"Why would I?"

"Cuz you don't wanna sleep with me…" Crocodile tears came flooding to the others boys eyes.

Allen stared at him. He was an odd one. _Of course I don't want to sleep with you. I'm only fifteen! And I don't even know who the hell you are!_

"Well, here." The boy set Allen down then grabbed his hand firmly. "We can walk like this…" and without wanting to hear another word from Allen he started skipping off, all the while having Allen being dragged behind like a rag doll.

Allen tried hard to talk to him, but every time he did, the boy would just skip ahead more vigorously, and by the time they had reached their destination, Allen felt as though his arm had popped out of its socket.

"Hey, I'm home." The boy pushed a button and spoke into a little voice box. "Let me in."

Allen blinked; he was so blinded by his anxiety that he had completely ignored his surroundings. The two of them were standing in front of a huge wrought iron gate, that was now creaking open. Allen blinked again. The house that sat on the other side was one worth looking at. It was enormous. Sure, Allen lived at HQ, but this was one building that he couldn't imagine living in without a couple hundred extra roommates to keep it full.

Allen was pulled in. As they walked up the path towards the house the boy whispered to Allen. "Don't say a word. Otherwise, I'll make sure that your sorry ass won't ever see the light of day again."

Allen felt sick to his stomach. He had to find a way out of this. Otherwise, well, there were a lot of things that could happen otherwise…

"WELCOME HOME OTIS!" A woman charged at the boys as they entered through the front door. They easily sidestepped her and she skidded out the door. "How was work today?" She smiled as she stuck her head in through the threshold.

The boy, now officially known as Otis, decided to casually start walking down the hall, ignoring the woman.

"Oh! I hope you haven't eaten dinner yet! I made something very special! And there's just enough for you new friend too!" The woman's voice called after them as they made their way up a grand flight of stairs.

"Who was she?" Allen asked. Though the woman seemed a little energetic she seemed kind enough, not to mention pretty.

"None of your business."

Allen couldn't comprehend as to why someone would act like an asshole to his own blood relative, like this Otis was doing so well. God knows _Allen_ wouldn't. If he had any that is...

Allen was shoved into a room and Otis followed, turning on the lights. Allen was almost knocked off his feet at the sheer sight of the room. It was nothing, nothing, nothing, absolutely NOTHING like his shop. It seemed to follow the general flow of the entire building. Rich, fancy, high class, and elegant.

"What kind of place is this?" Allen asked as he walked around the room looking at all the antiquities. "You're surrounded by such amazing things, and people, yet you run a stand that sells……" Allen shook his head and decided not to dig any deeper. "You're really weird." He finally concluded.

"Look who's talking." Otis shot back as he took off his tie and fixed up his hair in his mirror, which happened to take up an entire wall. "You walk up to my stall all "friendly" like, you break one of my important pieces of merchandise, you try to out-cheat me in cards, and now you're here about to get raped by me. If there's anyone here who's weird. It's definitely you." He turned around and opened up a mini-refrigerator, pulling out a drink. "Think fast." He said as he threw a can towards Allen's face.

Luckily Allen was fast enough to catch it. "There's nothing weird about me. I don't go around trying to rape other boys." He said as he opened up the can, even though on the outside he was seemingly calm, Allen was about to have a major breakdown internally. It took all his might just to pop the top off of his beverage in such a composed manner.

Allen took a long sip of his pop as he thought frantically about what to do next. He had two choices: either beat Otis upside the head with a heavy object and run away, or just jump out the window and run like hell away from this death trap. Sure, they sounded like virtually the same plan, but one involved not having to beat Otis unconscious and the other did… which would be more convenient?

Both sounded pretty risky, but to Allen, anything would do. He shifted his eyes around a room and saw a sizeable looking lamp that looked like it would do the trick…

Otis landed on his bed and flung his head back. Allen's attention went from the lamp to Otis as he started shaking. Allen raised a brow at the odd boy when finally his shakes were turned into an audible laughter.

"Oh my god! I can't believe you actually listened to me and came all this way… Thinking that I was about to rape you!" Tears ran down his eyes as he rolled around his bed, clutching his stomach from the pain of laughing so hard.

Allen stood there. "...What?"

"I'm not gonna do laundry with something that I picked up off the streets!" The sound of his Otis' laughter broke Allen's train of thought (or lack there of).

All Allen could hear was a loud, sudden, snap go off in the back of his mind. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING! YOU ASSWIPE, I ALMOST HAD A HEARTATTACK CUZ I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO ASSULT YOU TO GET AWAY!" Allen looked over at the lamp that was still sitting there. Even if he wasn't going to be taken advantage of, the thought of beating Otis with the blunt object repeatedly didn't sound too bad at the moment.

Allen took a deep breath, trying to relieve the bloody images from his mind. Although he was furious beyond belief, there was no doubt that he was (at least a little bit) relieved to hear that he was the butt of this boy's joke, nothing more.

Otis smiled as he took a long drink of his pop. "Hey be glad I wasn't serious!" Otis hopped up from off his bed and went over to Allen with his hand outstretched. "Let me formally introduce myself. I'm Otis 'not-gonna-rape-you' Placebo."

Allen angrily gripped his hand, noticing that Otis' grip wasn't as strong as he'd imagined. "I'm Allen 'I-fucking-hate-your-guts' Walker."

Otis let out a howl. This side of him was something nobody, especially Allen, would have expected from just glancing at the solemn looking youth. "Hey, no 'bête-noir' right?" (1) He leaned against his bedpost. "I was soooo bored. People usually don't come up to my stall unless they want to harass me about the thief thing. But today I was lucky enough to get a punk like you. Man, you're a life saver!"

Allen laughed half-heartedly. That was when he remembered, _the thief!_ Oh, of all things to forget… he was WAY behind what he was suppose to be doing. He had to get information about that so-called exorcist, but here he was making friends with a troublemaker.

Allen quickly turned around and spotted a clock: eleven twenty five.

"_A-aarrrreen…"_

A fuzzy voice buzzed in Allen's ear, breaking his concentration. "Hey Otis, can I use your bathroom?"

"Sure, go ahead, it's the door next to the stairs."

Allen thanked him and ran into the bathroom. Marble. Everywhere.

"_Allen...re are you..."_

Allen took the receiver out of his ear and flicked it a couple of times before putting it back. "Hello?" He whispered.

"_Allen?"_ Rabi's voice rung on the other end. _"ALLEN! WHERE ARE YOU! ARE YOU OK? KANDA AND ME HAVE BEEN WORRIED SICK! DO I NEED TO COME FIND YOU?"_

"_Shut up, liar." _Kanda's oh-so-friendly voice cut in. _"Where the hell are you moyashi? Don't tell me you got lost."_

"No!" Allen whispered, trying hard not to shout at Kanda and Rabi's remarks. "I'm fine, don't worry about me. How are you guys?"

"_Well, me and Kanda have found out a lot of stuff, but when we compare it doesn't really make any sense…"_

"_Where are you anyway? We sent you a message to come meet us in front of the plaza a few hours ago… stupid. Didn't you hear it?"_

Allen paused. That was probably during his card game with Otis; Allen was so busy concentrating during his game that he probably didn't hear the small buzz over his intense focus.

"Oops. I guess I didn't hear you guys, sorry! But hey, let me meet you guys really quick. In the plaza right? That shouldn't be too far from here. Alright. I'll see you guys in a few minutes."

"_Hurry Allen! Kanda's no fun to flirt with"_ Rabi joked. There was a loud thud on the other end and they were gone. Allen sighed.

He nodded to himself. Allen would give Otis the slip and leave to meet up at the rendezvous point in no time. But just as he opened the door, he found himself face-to-face with none other than his would-be raper. "H-hey!" Allen yelled. He had almost jumped out of his skin. "Jeez, don't do that to me!" He felt his heart going at least a thousand beats per minute, or so it felt.

Otis smiled. "Hey do you wanna go out?"

"Out?" Allen blinked. _At this time? _"Shouldn't you stay at home... or e-eat dinner?"

"Nah, I'm fine. I eat at work. Anyways, she always offers me things when I get back home." Otis looked down the flight of stairs. "How about it?"

Allen sighed internally. He couldn't have this guy pestering them while the three of them tried to exchange information and sort this thing out!

"I-I uh, dunno. I know I should get going. I've taken advantage of your hospitality for much too long... I'm sure I'll be able to find my way... so you stay here, and I'll go!" Allen tried sneaking his way towards the stairs but Otis' hand landed against the wall right in front of Allen's face.

"Nah, you're lying. It's obvious you aren't gonna go home." Allen withered as Otis read him like a book.

"If you're not going home, then let's go out." Otis cocked his head to the side. "All right?"

"C-curfew!" Allen half-shouted at his last attempt to stop Otis from following him. "I-isn't it past... your curfew?"

Allen could feel Otis' blank stare penetrate his soul. Most definitely Allen knew that Otis was probably older than he was, even _Allen_ didn't have a curfew. Unexpectedly, Otis let out a laugh. "You've got to be kidding me!" He smacked Allen's shoulder. "Come. Let's go!"

The cool night air bit at Allen's miserable face as the two of them walked down the sidewalk. The two had been able to make it out of the house without anyone's notice, and the entire street was empty of people at this hour.

"How about we go to the Plaza?" Otis suggested.

"Plaza?" Allen had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that Otis had heard everything Allen had been saying in the bathroom. "Hmm… how about the park or something?" Allen suggested instead. He couldn't afford to get an outsider involved in his exorcist business.

"Hm. Alright. Which one you wanna go to? Have any idea?" He glanced at Allen sideways. Allen had on a look of utter loss.

"No."

"Don't worry, I know a great place. I'll take you there." Otis grinned.

Allen sighed. This was great, just great. He was supposed to be on a mission and here he was taking a leisurely stroll down a completely random street. Allen's hand itched to pull out the map he had in his pocket, but he restrained himself. That would be too suspicious on his part.

"Hey, you're not from here are you?" Otis chirped up, breaking Allen's thoughts.

"No… I just moved here recently." Allen said off the top of his head. "The people here are very strange."

"Looks like you belong on the outside." Otis pointed out Allen's outrageous apparel. "But on the inside you're still foreign."

Allen chuckled. "Heh, yeah. I guess you could say that…"

"Don't worry. It's all good." Otis looked up at the sky; Allen followed his gaze. Instead of seeing a sky full of bright stars Allen saw an empty void that loomed over their heads.

"For a city without any supernatural problems in it… it sure has its cons." Otis said as they turned onto a populated street. "You can't see the stars because of the city lights for one, and two, everyone here is full of shit." Otis said as a stranger shoved past him without even trying to avoid the collision.

"But the woman at your house, she seemed to care about you." Allen said, being the usually good-natured person he was, he moved as the same stranger walked past him. Not a fiber of them having touched.

"Nah." Otis sighed. "She's just as filthy as the rest of us." He stated simply.

Allen raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"She used to be like you. Someone who didn't know any better…"

Allen sweated. "Oh."

"She really cared about me and was probably the only person who looked out for others before herself." Otis balled his fists up and stuffed them into his pockets. "But one day I messed up. I was about to be punished severely, but she just stood there. She didn't even reach out to help me. She stood there and watched, as I was beat. Little did she know it was a test on her part. They wanted to see if she was really as good as she made herself out to be."

A sad smile spread across his face. "She failed that test."

"What happened?" Allen asked quietly.

"We told her straight out. She failed. She was a scum of the earth like the rest of us. That she should give up her act. You know, stuff like that." Otis shrugged as he tried to keep his voice cool and apathetic. "Of course, she wouldn't come out of her room for a couple of weeks. But when she finally did, she kind of went back to her old self, except this time it was a little more… eccentric."

Otis stopped and bent down, his foot had stopped right next to a flower that had astonishingly managed to crack through the cement and thrive off the sunshine. Just as Allen thought he was about to touch it, Otis' hands hovered over to his shoelaces, as he tried to fix them as an excuse to lean over.

"Hey." Otis said as he retied his shoes. "Sorry to drop that shit on you. Don't mind it okay?" He said, his voice masked with unreal apathy.

Allen gazed down the street, at the handful of people hustling about to their own business. Allen wondered what kind of lives they lived, what they thought, what they desired. To Allen, it seemed as though he was the only one who seemed to have stopped and realized how futile that kind of life was. He turned his attention to Otis. He was now sitting on the border of futility and hope.

"That's not fair." Allen declared, sounding a little selfish.

"W-what?" Otis looked up at Allen. "Selfish?"

"That's not fair." Allen licked his semi-chapped lips. "…to trick someone like that just to point out her flaws, her imperfections. Nobody's perfect. But at least she tried didn't she? She tried to shine through those imperfections, and she _tried_ to make people smile."

Allen's gaze refocused onto Otis as he stood. "Obviously that punishment must've been terrifying enough to freeze her with fear. You may be right about people being conceited. But they're also jealous. To have stooped so low as to frighten someone into such a state, just because they're happier, just because they actually enjoy their lives." Allen could feel the blood rushing through his veins. The situation wasn't fair! It wasn't.

Otis looked into Allen's eyes, point blank. There was silence as Otis thought over Allen's words, the words had truth and conviction behind them, they were sincere and honest, from the very depths of Allen's heart. But something about what he said didn't feel right to Otis.

Otis stared into Allen's pale blue eyes as he tried to break Allen down, like he was usually did to people who rubbed him the wrong way. But this time it didn't work. Allen's will was absolute, his eyes were unwavering.

Otis finally turned around and laughed. "I told you not to mind it didn't it? Jeez, you really are weird."

Allen let out a heavy sigh, he thought the tension would never go away.

"Well, let's get going." Otis said as he led the way. Allen couldn't help but feel comforted. Hopefully, his message reached Otis. He looked back over his shoulder; the flower was still sitting where it had been. _He's a gentle guy._

Otis was a good guy.

"Hey!" Otis called to Allen. "Did you know that there are alligators living in the sewers underneath this city?"

"What?" Allen pondered a bit at the random fact that was thrown at him. "You're lying aren't you?"

"Nope, there really are!" Otis smiled evilly over his shoulder. "I can shove you down a manhole if you don't believe me."

"No thanks!" Allen waved his arms, as the thought of the nauseating scent washing over him made him feel a little sick, "I'll pass." he said, turning a little green around the gills.

The rest of the way to their destination, the two of them talked about the most random things, from alligators to pie to architecture, whatever seemed to pass the time.

"Hey, lookie, we're here already!" Otis smiled as the two of them walked into a huge courtyard. A giant fountain stood tall in the middle, waves of water cascading down from the mouths of fish, and vases held in the slender arms of young women. There were old euro-style buildings surrounding the courtyard with a spectrum of different colored lights decorating the square.

"This doesn't look like the park." Allen looked around. There was quite a bit of people here at this hour, all drunks, he would soon discover.

"Yeah, I decided that I wanted to bring you to the plaza instead." Otis grinned from ear-to-ear.

"WHAT!" Allen frantically looked around only a second too late.

"AARRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEENNN!"

Allen was tackled to the ground with a bone-crunching thud, the cold pavement pressed against his face while he felt about 150 pounds of dead weight on top of him.

"R-rabi…" Allen coughed weakly. "You're crushing me…"

Kanda's boots stopped inches away from Allen's face. Allen looked up at him. "Kanda… Get Rabi offa me!" Allen struggled to push Rabi off, when a sudden nostalgic scent settled into Allen's senses. _Master Cross..._

"Why do I smell sake?"

Kanda was glaring over at Otis suspiciously, but answered Allen's question with his usual cold tone of voice. "Take a guess genius."

"Allllllllllen I love you..." Rabi nipped at Allen's ear; his breath reeked of the vile liquid.

"Rabi's drunk?"

* * *

After Notes:

(1) bête-noir: hatred, if I'm correct... Fancy peoples use fancy words!  
Well, you may have noticed that during this chapter I used "Arren" instead of "Allen" … if you're as big of an anime-fan as you think you are, then yes. You know the real leason why… X3  
Wow, now I know why I rated this M.. For the language...? Yeah, let me tell you, it'll probably get worse now that Kanda's back in the picture. I've noticed in the manga that whenever Allen and Kanda are in the same panel, they're always cussing to the max. Entertaining!  
As for my very late update… I'm sorry! XD I've been so busy with clubs and work and practice and… homecoming was last week... it was totally suckage btw… We lost our football game 14 to 42 TT.TT oh well, it's not like I expected us to win… we never win home games…  
Anyway… D.GRAY.ANIME TODAY (oct. 3)! LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE must WATCHWATCHWATCHWATCHWATCH! Now let me go and get some sleep… v—v  
And as always Tune In Next Time For More! XD i lurv u guyz!

**Edited 8/1/07**: Like the last chapter, no Allen POV at the beginning of this chapter. I also tried to fix the somewhat confusing story about Otis and his sister in this chapter. It should make more sense. Heh. Also cleared the whole um, polker cheating thing. Allen didn't lose. They played 25 games. It was a tie up until the last game. Sadly Allen just didn't win. But you know he's still got skillz when it comes to polker though.


	5. Falling

Title: Escape

Author: "teh great" M.F.

Disclaimer: all disclaimer rules apply. here and now.

Warnings: Shounan-ai/Yaoi, OOC

Before Notes: Ahh! Shoot me! Just Shoot Me Now! I know I've been a bad, bad, kid. It's been over a MONTH since I've updated last. :stabstab: …no?  
Anyway, this chapter is liek teh **UBER** long… so before you start reading, use the toilet, grab some popcorn, and sit back and read this chapter to your hearts content. And let me warn you now, there are some crack parts in it. Le sigh. I wonder how you guys feel, reading my poor excuse for plot development?

* * *

Chapter 05: Falling

Allen's face flushed. Those three little words rung in his ears over and over again until Allen was sure his face was as red as Rabi's hair. Yes. Rabi was as drunk as hell, and he was probably just running his drunken mouth like the drunken idiot he was. But still. Allen couldn't help but buckle at the knees when he heard Rabi utter those three little words in a deep, almost aching, tone of voice.

So it was chaos for a little while as Kanda and Otis tried to get a drunken Rabi and a very mortified Allen back up on their own two feet. Allen was able to compose himself, but Rabi on the other hand was, well, to put it mildly... _morbidly_ drunk. Not even able to stand on his own, he held himself up by using Allen as a brace.

"Allen." Rabi sighed as he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Allen's shoulders. The tips of his fiery hair tickled Allen's face.

"Rabi!" Allen was about to throw him off, when he remembered that the redhead was wasted. Allen cursed under his breath. The close distance between the two didn't exactly pass as "snug" for him as horrifying images from their coffee shop incident suddenly flashed before Allen's eyes. Allen could feel the heat rising in his face once again.

"Just because I'm short doesn't mean you can lean on me!" Allen said, steaming. Without another word of argument, he turned and started dragging Rabi's unsteady body to somewhere where they could sit and gather their thoughts without having to worry about falling over.

In the meantime, Kanda couldn't help but notice the pest that had followed the bean to the plaza. He would have asked who the hell he was, but, feeling lazy at around two in the morning, all he could manage was a sleepy scowl. Otis managed to the message, and reluctantly stayed behind as Kanda followed after the other two.

Allen heaved Rabi's body to a nearby coffee shop that had closed for the night, and with a thud Rabi heavily landed in one of the chairs out front.

"Finally!" Allen sat down next to him, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Rabi rested his arms on the table in front of him and rested his forehead on them, looking down at the ground between his legs. He chuckled. "Now you know, how I felt when I had to carry you back then… after lunch…" he laughed.

"You've got a point." Allen sighed. "I'm just glad I don't have to carry you up a flight of stairs like you did with me." He sweated. He was _incredibly_ glad now that he thought about it. _I don't think I'd be able to get him up the stairs by myself._

"Don't worry about it Allen." Rabi interrupted his thoughts. "You're like a little brother to me. I wouldn't put you through something like that."

Allen turned to Rabi, surprised. Allen nodded. "I'm glad that's all you think of me." He forced a smile as his voice trailed off. _That's right… it's not that he really loves me or anything. _Rabi looked up at Allen, noticing only the change in his tone of voice, and _not _noticing what he himself had just said. Allen realized the sudden gloom that overshadowed him. _But! It's not that it matters if he really loves me or not! What am I getting so down for?_

"Moyashi, snap out of it." Kanda commanded as he walked up to the table.

"Oh." Allen blinked. "Kanda, hey." He then glanced over at Rabi who had his head rested on his arms, sleeping it looked like.

_Wait a minute._ Allen raised a brow and looked at Rabi's sleeping form with concern. _How'd he get drunk in the first place?!_

"He was careless." Kanda answered. Allen looked over at the samurai, surprised.

"What? How'd you know what I was thinking?" Allen sat confused.

"Che." Kanda crossed his arms. "You're not that hard to figure out."

Allen paused briefly then shook his head. "Just tell me what happened." He insisted.

"That idiot tried to get information out of the drunks around here while we were waiting." Kanda sighed spitefully.

Allen's brows scrunched up in concern. "Go on."

Kanda glared at him, too tired at the moment to answer any of Allen's questions, let alone provide in-depth details. "He had a couple of drinks with them to get friendly. Then one drink led to another, and now he's been turned into this." Kanda waved halfheartedly towards Rabi. Allen hung his head, sure sounded like something Rabi might do. If only Allen had come sooner, he might have been able to stop this from happening. He looked over at the now snoozing Rabi, feeling a little responsible for his state of being. "Well, first and foremost, we need to get Rabi someplace so he can rest." Allen yawned then blushed. "I guess we all could use some sleep..." Kanda rolled his eyes.

"Allen." Otis said, finally joining the group.

"Oh Otis! Sorry about this." Allen apologized as he suddenly remembered his poor acquaintance who had been dragged into this whole situation.

"It's pretty late. If you need a place to stay, my house is open tonight."

Allen glanced over at Kanda. He didn't respond, probably meaning that he didn't care either way.

"Is that alright with you and your family?" Allen asked a little worried as he remembered Otis's... _family _situation.

"Sure, they don't care." Otis shrugged. "I've got plenty of extra rooms you guys can use."

Allen's eyes shimmered: perhaps from all the nearby lanterns or perhaps from his lack of sleep. Either way, he was grateful to Otis who was now their generous host, and who actually had a place for the three exorcists to rest for the night. Allen didn't think that Baku really had any arrangements planned for the three of them to rest at a safe house or something; he probably expected them to rough it and sleep out on the streets as far as Allen knew. After all, there weren't any akuma in the city. It wouldn't be all that dangerous.

The walk to the house was silent. Allen straggled along behind Otis and Kanda who were carrying Rabi along with them. Allen sighed, the vapor of his breath rising above his head into the night sky. Their first day on the mission was now past them, but for the first time in Allen Walker's life, his mind wasn't on the current mission, but on a... different issue.

Allen caught himself staring at the back of Rabi's head for the fifth time already since they had started their leisurely stroll back to Otis's house. Not once since Allen walked into the plaza had he thought about the mission. All his focus and energy were currently on the wasted redhead before him.

"Damnit." Allen cursed under his breath as slapped himself lightly. _I need to get Rabi out of my mind!_ was Allen's only thought as he noticed how the cracks in the sidewalk grew less and less as they got closer and closer to Otis's neighborhood. _The mission. I have to think about the mission. "Allen..." We still have a little more than a week left before the thief acts, "I..." maybe even less then that. After all, he said he was going to strike before the end of the month, right? "Love..." That could be anytime…"You."_

Allen stopped in his tracks and clutched his head as the three in front of him continued walking. _Stop thinking Allen. Stop thinking about it!_ _Stop it! Stop! Stop!_ It wasn't until Kanda's voice interrupted his thoughts that Allen was brought back to reality.

"Don't fall behind." He called back to Allen without looking back or stopping.

Allen dropped his arms to his sides as he looked up. Otis looked over his should at Allen, "Come on Allen, it's just a little further, remember?"

"Right." Allen spoke wearily. He took a step forward and then decided: "I must be more tired than I thought."

It wasn't long till they reached the wrought-iron gates. Otis notified it was him through the speaker, and the gates opened before them.

"WELCOME HOME OTIS!!!" The now familiar figure lunged at the group of men as they entered the house. Otis and Kanda, both let go of Rabi and let him land face first to the ground as the woman launched over Rabi and between the other two right into the sleep-deprived Allen.

"Ouch!" Allen held his head as he sat up from the body slam. "Are, are you ok?" He asked the woman who had just tackled him to the ground.

"Oops. I'm so sorry! Yes, yes, I'm fine." The woman got to her feet and looked over her shoulder. Allen looked too, only to see Kanda and Otis dragging Rabi off up the stairs. She sighed and turned to Allen, holding out a hand. "I didn't mean to tackle you little boy."

Allen froze in mid-reach. _Little boy._ She grabbed his hand and pulled him up to his feet. She was surprisingly strong, even though she didn't look it.

"You're Otis' friend from earlier." She smiled. "Please be good to him." She bowed her head.

Allen stared at her for a moment then nodded. "Of course."

After Rabi was safely sleeping in his room, Allen had apologized to Otis for inconveniencing him. Otis had just grinned and waved it off like it was no big deal.

"I'll be leaving early tomorrow for the bazaar. Feel free to eat breakfast and stuff. Mi casa su casa. You know?"

Allen just blinked and nodded, too tired to try and translate that with what little foreign language he knew.

Rabi's room was next to his as Kanda's was right across the hall. Allen's guest room was littered with pink silk everywhere, but he didn't care. He was asleep before his head hit his pillow.

* * *

To his left was infinite darkness. To his right was eternal light. Allen stood at the dead center, one foot in each realm. 

Half of him wanted to go to the right, it felt as though something about the light would comfort him and protect him. But the other half of him didn't want to be so exposed, he liked being able to hide his insecurities and pain in the darkness.

Though the air he breathed was heavy, the things he felt were painful, and the sounds he heard were excruciating. Allen wouldn't budge. He liked it right where he was, this painful, in-between existence. This is what Allen had created, and this is where Allen would stay. _I won't run away. I won't try to escape._

* * *

The movements were small and subtle, but Allen noticed them nonetheless. 

He cracked his eyes open to see a faint layer of light draping over everything in the room. By the looks of it, it must have been around dawn. Allen's body stiffened when he noticed the small movement again. He was lying on his left side, facing a bureau and a small vanity table. The small movements were coming from behind him. Lying still for a few more seconds, Allen realized that there was an arm wrapped around him, and the warmth of another body lying behind him.

_Oh no. Dear God… please… don't let it be him…_

Allen slowly turned his head; a wisp of red hair surrendered itself to Allen's vision.

He should have shouted, he should have kicked and screamed, he should have freaked out and done something, _anything_, to distance himself from the man that was holding him close, but he didn't.

Rabi's even breaths tickled the back of Allen's neck as the steady rhythm of Rabi's heart beat against one of Allen's shoulder blades. Both of their legs were intertwined and the warm pads of Rabi's fingertips rested gently atop Allen's bare stomach. Never before had Allen experienced such close human contact before. Allen couldn't help but notice he enjoyed it, this warmth he felt.

_Again with these confusing feelings._

Allen moved to rip the covers off of them, but he froze moment he heard Rabi let out a soft moan from behind. For some reason the sound made Allen's heart race and his face flush. Oh, Allen could just see it now, how Rabi would start laughing as soon as he saw Allen's face. _What're you so embarrassed about bean sprout?_ He'd ask, then crack some sort of dirty joke... Luckily for Allen though, Rabi didn't wake up. Instead, he rolled over onto his back, his legs untangling from Allen's.

Allen stayed frozen in his spot until he was sure that Rabi was still asleep. Silently, Allen sat up and just stared out into the room that grew brighter with every passing minute.

_Rabi must have snuck in here last night while he was still a little tipsy. He's such an idiot sometimes…_ Allen sighed into the silence of the room, a smile replacing his frown. From behind him, he could hear Rabi's deep, even breathing.

_I wonder if Rabi the type of person to sleep with a smile on his face?_ Allen suddenly thought, remembering how he was always told that he slept with a slight frown on his face. This was quite possible for him, especially when he dreamt of his master. The sudden curiosity caught Allen off guard, but it soon overcame his anxiety as he looked over his shoulder.

Sure enough, Allen saw the corners of Rabi's lips upturned, just barely though. Allen chuckled to himself, _even though he's older than me, he seems to be a lot more... __youthful?_ Allen bravely lay down on his stomach next to the slumbering redhead. He then reached over and placed the tips of his fingers at the corners of Rabi's mouth. Not getting a response, Allen slightly raised them upwards into a more noticeable smile. It was then that Rabi's mouth slightly opened and he giggled.

"Allen-kun… stop that…" He grumbled.

"Rabi?" Allen whispered, his body freezing once again. Rabi just giggled sleepily and his smile widened for a second before his face fell back into it's relaxed sleeping form.

"Are you dreaming about me?" Allen whispered again. He inched closer to Rabi, stroking the older boy's flaming hair. Rabi turned his face in his sleep, his lips an inch away from Allen's.

"If you were dreaming about me…" Allen said more to himself than anyone else. "…that would make me feel… very happy." He whispered, his lips barely grazing Rabi's, their noses touching. Something inside Allen thirsted to kiss those sleep-induced lips, the force of that desire crushing Allen's resistant will with each second that passed.

A dish dropping somewhere inside of the house snapped Allen out of his trans. Realizing what he was just about to do, Allen quickly and quietly sat up and got out of bed, retreating to the bathroom that connected both his and Rabi's rooms.

* * *

Cold water dripped down from Allen's face as he looked at himself in the mirror. _Have I lost my mind? I was about to kiss Rabi. Kiss Rabi! What's wrong with me? _Allen grabbed a towel and dried off his face and hands. Then he remembered the words he'd whispered to Rabi. _"...that would make me feel... very happy."_ _What in the world could have __possibly possessed__ me to say such a thing?_

"Bean sprout? Are you in there?" Rabi's voice called out from the other side of the bathroom door.

"Y-yeah!" Allen answered, his heart pounding loudly. He got up and glanced at himself in the mirror before opening the door. _Stupid, don't do that. _(1)

As soon as the door opened Rabi scrambled past Allen and unzipped his pants. Seeing as how everyone was so dead tired the night before, nobody had taken the liberty of changing Rabi into some pajamas.

"Ahh, that feels so much better." Rabi sighed as his stream hit the toilet water below. Allen just shook his head and returned to the pink satin room.

"You gonna eat breakfast?" Rabi called from the bathroom, the toilet flushing.

"Already?" Allen looked around the room and found a clock. "It's not even six yet."

"Yeah, so?" Rabi asked, sink water running. "Sounds like _someone's_ awake down there."

Allen paused and listened after the water in the bathroom stopped running. Allen couldn't hear anything whatsoever. The only sound he had heard all morning was the sound of that dish, or whatever it was, dropping just when he was about to…

Allen turned on his heel and faced Rabi who just walked into the room. Rabi just yawned and stretched. "I don't know about you Allen, but I slept like a baby last night." He opened his teary eye and smiled at Allen.

"Me too." Allen said, remaining calm so his actions wouldn't seem too jerky and suspicious.

"Let's go see what they've got then!" Rabi suggested, grabbing Allen's wrist and dragging him out of the room.

* * *

"Good morning sirs!" A blonde maid greeted as the two of them reached the bottom of the marble stairs. "Would you like some breakfast before leaving this morning?" 

"Yes please!" Rabi beamed at the busty blonde. "I wouldn't mind dessert either!"

The maid raised both of her brows and blushed before turning away to lead them to the dining room. Allen snapped his wrist out of Lavi's grip as soon as she turned, only to be ignored by the drooling redheaded exorcist. Now _this_ was something that settled Allen's anxiety. Though he was being ignored, it almost felt as though everything were back to normal in his eyes. No more confusing thoughts about Rabi, right?

"Oh? Good morning boss!" Rabi's cheerful voice echoed throughout the dining hall, reaching the raven-haired exorcist's ears.

Kanda looked up at the two of them then looked back down at his food.

Breakfast was quick and harmless. Kanda scowled at his food the entire time since it was sadly nothing like soba or tempura. Rabi ate and flirted with the same blonde maid until she finally retreated with an excuse. Allen ate his mountains of food in silence, wondering if Otis already left.

"Yes, the master left a little earlier this morning." A butler said to the three of them out in the hall. "He must attend to his shop always. Otherwise, he might get something stolen, but I digress, the master said that you all are welcome to his mansion at any time."

"Ah really? Hmm. Thank you." Allen smiled as the butler bowed and left to do his business. The three exorcists left the mansion and started walking down to the front gate.

"What did you find?" Kanda asked as they took slow steps down the lawn.

"About the thief... one of the shop owners at the bazaar told me an odd story." Allen said as he realized the question was directed toward him. "He told me about how the thief had hit all the shops at the bazaar at the exact same time. He said that the thief had stolen all their locked up valuables just by standing in front of their stalls for maybe a second or two. I'm guessing that he might have some sort of time/space abilities."

"Or cloning abilities." Rabi said.

"Or both." Kanda finished. "Did you get any suspects?"

"Well, the shop owner said that Otis was the only one who wasn't present that day. They said it was because he was sick or something."

Rabi raised a brow. "That's suspicious."

Allen nodded. "I thought so too at first. But after spending the afternoon with him yesterday, I just can't find anything that'd make him seem like he's the thief. I mean, sure he was pretty good at cards, but—"

"No buts." Kanda interjected. "Keep watching him moyashi. I got nobody suspicious from the main streets. Everything was deserted down there. Every business there has been decimated and all the businessmen I talked to said that they hated the thief. But other than complaints, they couldn't really point anyone out."

"Hmm." Rabi scratched his chin. "Well, all the thugs who live in the shadier part of town were thriving from what I saw. A lot of 'em seemed to be real quiet about the whole thief thing. But for the guys who did talk, they really looked up to him. But even with all the talk, nobody really said anything about anybody. So there weren't any suspects for me to confront." Rabi shrugged. "I know they're bound to have a hunch, but no one's willing to share their thoughts with me."

Kanda closed his eyes. "Typical."

Allen sighed. "Darn it." He wondered if any of this would help them come any closer to the thief or not.

"We contacted Baku yesterday." Rabi said. "He said that he sent a dozen more people here to collect information from the other districts in the city. Seems as though this city's a lot bigger than we thought. But other than that, he still hasn't gotten any more big leads.

The three of them stopped just inside the front gate. "Looks like we'll need to get as much information as we can today." Allen said.

"Moyashi, before you leave."

"Hm?"

* * *

"Looks like you slept well." Otis said as Allen sat down in front of his stall, the sun reflecting off the top of Allen's white hair. 

Allen squinted his eyes in the bright sunlight. "Yeah, it was really nice. Thanks for having us so suddenly." He said apologetically.

"Hey, like I said, it's no big deal." Otis smiled as he cooled himself with his paper fan.

Allen sighed and watched the crowd. It was around noon and there were many people in the district. Allen watched as the countless number of customers turned the stall vendors into vultures, preying upon their customers in an unrelenting manner. They raised their prices higher and higher with each customer; the opposite of how a bazaar was supposed to work in Allen's opinion.

While the other vendors tried their best to draw in huge crowds toward their stand, Otis and Allen just sat without really trying at all to catch the eyes of anyone. But Allen did notice the looks he got from some of the vendors and the customers every once in a while. It was for a mere second, but if Allen didn't know any better he would have said that they were looks of contempt, something Allen couldn't understand.

A few minutes passed when Allen spoke. "Is this place always so crowded with people?"

"Ever since the main streets went out of business, yeah." Otis answered.

"Out of business huh?" Allen asked. "Why's that?"

"Surely you've lived here long enough to know?"

_Before you go Allen..._

"Well yeah! I mean no! I haven't lived here _that_ long. I'm by myself, can't really afford to know everything that's going on!" Allen panicked.

_Otis seems to be our only lead so far…_

Otis chuckled. "What's with you? You live under a rock or something?"

_Make sure to get more information out of that guy._

"Of course not." Allen defended.

_Without__ blowing our cover._

"Yeah, well, it's not like it's any better business here." Otis said.

"Do you usually get any customers?" Allen asked.

Otis shrugged. "Depends."

Allen turned, surprised. So he _did _get customers? _Amazing. _Allen thought. "Do you ever get a lot of people?"

"Nah." He said as he leaned back into his chair. "Not like I care. I mean it's not that I'm angry about my poor sales or anything, but if things keep staying the way they are now, I just might go out and get that damned thief to wipe this godforsaken place out already." Otis sighed.

"What? Why say something like that?" Allen asked, curious as the thief had come up in context.

"Can't you tell?" Otis skimmed across the crowd. "This place is slowly turning as immoral as the main street businesses had once been."

Allen turned and watched the shopkeepers, their prying, thieving eyes; their greedy, grubby hands reaching for their client's money; their brows drenched with sweat from all the thought that went into calculating prices, stock, profit. Allen understood the ugliness that Otis saw as he stared into the eyes of his fellow vendors.

"They can't all be like that." Allen said while he poked absentmindedly at a ball filled with jelly and grubs sitting on Otis's table.

"Well, now that the big city businesses aren't boomin' anymore, people come to the Bazaar, looking for anything that might make up for the loss of their big store products." Otis joined Allen in toying with the squishy jelly ball. "In other words, people are willing to spend big bucks here, which rarely happens, that in turn, makes the vendors turn greedy for more profit and cash."

"See that guy across the street?" Otis pointed toward the man that Allen had talked to the day before. Allen nodded. "Well, he used to be a really nice guy. Always lowering his prices enough to make his customers happy. Now look at him, licking his lips while he does business, like he's hungry for cash."

"But I talked to him just the other day." Allen stated. "He… he was really friendly and said things that made you guys in the bazaar seem kind of like, a big family."

"Hah! That's all a part of the sales pitch." Otis said fanning himself a little faster. "You've got to get the customer to think you're the most honest, well-mannered person under the sun. Then when they finally trust you and fall for all your lies, you charge them for every penny that they're worth."

Allen swallowed then turned to Otis. "You know, you've got a real bad outlook on everyone. They really could be friendly people. And not as calculating as you say they are."

Otis stared at Allen for a second, his eyes fixed upon his face, stunned at how Allen could go and defend people he didn't even know. "How would you know? You're still wet behind the ears when it comes to being street smart, you don't these guys like I know them."

"Do you really know them any better than I do? Have you gotten to know these people and spend time with them personally?"

"Do you think spending time with them will change their attitudes?"

"It might change that attitude of yours if you find out that you're prejudgments about them are wrong."

Otis' hand shot through the air and caught Allen roughly at the collar. "You have no idea how much I know about these people." He whispered fiercely a dark flame burning behind his eyes.

Allen's blue eyes stared into Otis' dark ones. "I don't believe you know these people as well as you say you do." He said defiantly. Allen knew he was pushing it…

Otis gazed fiercely at Allen, then let go of his collar with a jerk. "Go home already." He mumbled and sat back.

Otis was probably right about everything. With all the information Allen had heard thus far about the people in this city, Otis' words made sense. Perhaps everyone Allen had encountered, everyone who seemed to have been nice or well mannered, were just putting on a mask in front of Allen. Perhaps they were able to sense how naïve and gullible he was.

Maybe Otis was right about Allen not knowing anything. After all, Allen had only been here for about a day. But still, Allen couldn't help standing up for the people of this city. These human beings who were just like him and his comrades back at HQ. They had feelings too. They couldn't have been as bad as everything he heard.

Allen shook his head as he sat in front of Otis's stall, trying to shake off his doubts, his fears. To protect humans: that was his purpose in life, he couldn't go and make bad judgments on them, otherwise, he might not have the will to continue saving them. That, he couldn't bear to think about.

Saving people who don't deserved to be saved? Was this how the Earl thought? How the Noah thought?

"Didn't I tell you to leave?" Otis's voice cut through the dense air, but blew past Allen's ears like the wind.

"As long as there's people like you here, I don't think this city deserves to perish." Allen said, looking out towards the crowds.

Otis blinked at Allen. It was then that something had hit Allen. It was as though someone had suddenly opened a door for his thoughts to properly flow and circulate through. _Perhaps the thief's goal is to… to destroy the city. Steal it out of its working order. First he stole from the big businesses, what seemed to be the foundation, __n__ext would be the bazaar, or would it be the minister? The man who was in charge of the entire state that surrounded the city? If that were to happen… how would the people here react? Would they start a war against one another?_

_Shit._ Allen cursed to himself. _If only I knew more information. We really have to hurry this up. This thief has probably had this planned all along. Stealing someone's life is one thing, but killing the minister. Wouldn't that just trigger something bigger?_

Now, Allen knew that this was a big assumption to make… it was also an assumption he grabbed right out of thin air. But it was possible wasn't it? The deeper Allen seemed to delve into Otis's thought process, the more Allen seemed to see things in a different light. Something he found somewhat frightening.

"Nah. That can't be it!" Allen laughed suddenly. Baku would definitely know if something like that were to happen. Ignoring the peculiar stare Otis was giving him, Allen asked, "Hey, Otis? Can I ask you about the thief?"

"The thief—?"Otis was sitting up and looked at Allen with interest when a sudden commotion had stirred across the street.

"You bastard!" Interrupted an angry shopkeepers voice. Allen and Otis turned to see what was going on. "It's a thief! Don't let him get away!" the same voice shouted out angrily.

Allen's eyes widened as a body flashed past him. Was it really a thief? At this hour, in _broad daylight_?

"Allen!" Otis called after Allen. He had shot out into the crowd after the thief.

"Hey you guys." Allen talked into his receiver as he ran, hoping it would pick up. Allen didn't know why but he just had this feeling about the figure that was running in front of him. Of course, the thief in front of him probably wasn't _the_ _thief_ that they were searching for at the moment, but other than intuition, Allen chased after the thief because that was the right thing to do, right?

Allen called out again into his receiver, but to no avail. He shrugged inwardly. He could take this guy, hands down.

The two of them had come a long way from the bazaar district and now Allen found himself with a chance to slow the thief down.

"Stop there!" Allen called out as he swiftly scooped up a brick from the sidewalk and chucked it at the thief. He took a good blow to the head, but continued running without looking back. Allen watched in amazement, as he seemed to run even faster after the hit.

Allen chased after the thief, picking up another brick along the way. He swung again but the thief suddenly ducked into an alleyway, successfully dodging the flying block. Allen followed in hot pursuit and turned the corner, holding up his arms ready to fight.

There stood the runaway, covered in a dark set of cloaks that covered him from head to toe, and behind him were ten to fifteen men, dressed similarly. Allen sweated.

Knuckles popped. "You bastard, how dare you harm me?! The unstoppable king of all thieves?"

The one who had run from Allen seemed to be the leader of the whole lot as the others all turned menacing eyes toward lonely little Allen. "Mm, sorry little man today's just not your day."

The wave of them came crashing forth onto Allen. Allen managed to punch a few down onto the concrete, but someone had grabbed him from behind and restrained his limbs. Sharp blows to Allen's torso and face knocked some wind out of him. He struggled to free himself, but there were just too many of them.

"Bean sprout? This isn't your district!"

Allen peeked around the current guy who was beating the air out of him and saw none other than Rabi standing before the gang, a lead pipe in hand and a menacing smirk on his face.

"Who the hell are you?!" The leader spat. "Forget the shrimp, get the big guy!"

"S-shrimp?!" Allen's eyes glowered towards the ones who were holding him down.

Punches, kicks, blood and tears flew all over the place before the dust finally settled in the small alleyway.

"Are you ok Allen?" Rabi asked as he dropped his pipe with a clank and helped Allen to his feet.

"Y-yeah." Allen said as he held his stomach, he would probably have bruises in the morning. "I'll be fine."

Rabi frowned. "B-but! They beat you!"

"F-fuck." The leader of the gang coughed. Now that his hood had been ripped off, he was just a normal looking kid with shocking blonde hair. "W-who the hell are you guys?"

Rabi picked up his pipe and looked down at him menacingly. "I'm the one who's gonna send you to your maker for touching my Allen."

"W-What?" Allen chocked at Rabi's words.

"Boss!" All of the beaten lackeys had gotten up and were now surrounding their leader. "We'll shield you!" They yelled in unison.

The blonde boy closed his eyes, holding back his tears. "N-no! You guys, save yourselves while you still can. It's over for me…"

"BOSS!"

The blonde looked down at the cold concrete pavement. "It's been a long haul you guys, and, I'm glad I could get to know every single one of you."

Tears ran down the faces of the loons as the blonde man made a dramatically pained pose. "We'll never forget you boss!" "Never! You were the best boss ever!" "We'll pray for you!" "AVENGE YOU!!!"

All the while, Rabi and Allen stood in confused shock.

"I was planning on beating this guy within an inch of his life," Rabi turned to Allen, "but I'm starting to think that may be a bad idea."

The entire gang turned to Rabi, shocked beyond words. They all immediately face-planted and bowed deeply. "THANK YOU FOR SPARING OUR LIVES!"

Allen squinted at them all. Not believing what was going on.

The blonde stood up, wiping the blood from his face. "Hey, good job you guys! You all managed to break the tension, I'm proud of you! " The rest of the gang followed suit and broke character, laughing and patting each other on the back, saying things like _"We couldn't have done it without you boss…" _and _"I love you guys"_ and other such things that seemed inappropriate at the moment, but then again, with everything that had been said so far, what _was_ appropriate?

"Good afternoon men!" The blonde bowed to the two. "My name is Jonathan Brown Taylor Edwards McQuiin the third. But you can just call me _The__ Boss_!"

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Allen yelled, confused beyond belief. _WHAT JUST HAPPENED?_

"I just told you, I'm _The __Boss_!" The blonde smiled. "I'm also the infamous thief of this city." He said majestically as he struck a (lame) pose.

Rabi conked him on the head with his pipe. "I don't believe you."

"Why not?!" The gang members chimed in. "Our boss is the greatest! Surely he can measure up to that 'famous' thief."

"So… they're saying that you're not the thief." Allen pointed out. "Right?"

The boss turned to his lackeys with a death glare. "Oops."

He then turned back to Allen and Rabi and pulled a golden, jewel-studded goblet out from his sleeve.

"This is the reason you were chasing me. I'll give it back to you if you don't tell anyone about what happened here." He said as he put the cup into Allen's hands.

Rabi let out a sudden laugh. "I suddenly remembered!" Rabi looked over at their gang. "Don't tell me that you guys are _The Jesters_?" Rabi quoted with his fingers.

There was a silent pause before a defiant: "What if we are?" broke the silence.

Rabi turned to Allen and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go Allen-chan!" And without another look back, they started walking back toward the street.

"W-wait!" The boss called out. "Why are you walking away from us? What kind of terrible rumors have you heard about our gang??"

Rabi sighed as he placed an arm around Allen's shoulders. "Nothing that you'd be able to handle." Rabi said in a bored manner. "Other than them having a lame-ass name for their gang, I heard that they were recently disowned by their leader." Rabi said to Allen. "Since then, they've dropped considerably in rank. They're now, probably _the worst_ gang on the face of the planet. Real _losers._"

Allen sweated at Rabi's sudden black side then turned and looked over his shoulder at the heart-broken gangsters. "We're not as pathetic as they say we are!" The voices echoed behind them.

Rabi smiled as he looked down at Allen. "Hey Allen, while we're here, do you wanna grab something to eat with me?"

Allen glanced sideways at Rabi. "No Rabi. We've got to complete the mission before we can relax." He said, trying to keep everything as professional as he could.

"What?" Rabi's shoulders hunched. "But we've come pretty far for a mission with almost no leads."

"And it's because we have no leads that we need to work extra hard to find that exorcist before something happens." Allen stated. "I'm afraid we're more far behind than we think Rabi. We need to really pick things up."

Rabi smiled down at Allen. "Ah, you're determined as usual Allen." They stopped at a corner a few blocks down from where the Bazaar district started. Rabi leaned down and held Allen tightly. "Don't overwork yourself." He whispered into his ear.

"What are you talking about?!?" Allen blushed, his professional persona completely shattering at the touch.

Rabi just smiled and ran back down the alley street. "I'll talk to you later!" As soon as Rabi was out of sigh, Allen's hands came up and covered his flushed cheeks. _I wish you wouldn't do things like that Rabi._

"Allen!"

"Huh?" Allen turned and saw Otis running up to him. "Otis, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be watching your stall or something?"

"It's fine." Otis said as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "I was wondering which way you went. Damnit. Are you ok?"

Allen smiled. "Yeah."

"Who was that bastard?"

"Oh yeah." Allen remembered as he held up the goblet. "Just some gangster." Allen held out the goblet to Otis. "I got back the stolen item, so there's really no need to worry or care about him."

"I see." Otis said as he eyed at the goblet. "You'd better return that."

Allen shook his head. "No, I want you to return it Otis."

"Why's that?" He asked suddenly suspicious and watching Allen.

"Because, it's better if someone they knew returned it, and who knows," Allen shrugged, "it might even give you a chance to take another look at the shopkeeper," he smiled, "and vice versa of course."

"Err... fine." Otis said taking the cup, a little flushed. Allen chuckled and patted Otis on the back as Otis grumbled under his breath.

The walk back to the bazaar was a quick one. But as soon as he stepped foot into the district Allen could sense that something wasn't right. Otis felt it too, the two of them stood for a second longer in the tense atmosphere before Otis took off towards his stall.

A crowd had gathered around it, Otis had pushed through the crowd and stumbled onto broken glass and dead grubs all over the place. Allen had pushed through as well and looked on in shock at the vandalism. It had only been a few minutes that Otis had been gone. But everything... everything was completely destroyed.

"_It happened for the best."_ "_Yes, that stall was pulling down business with its grotesque products."_ "_Hopefully that boy's gotten the idea that he isn't wanted here."_ Murmurs rose from the crowd. Allen couldn't believe his ears. Those looks that he had seen earlier, those looks of contempt… Had Otis been right?

Instead of turning on the crowd and demanding some form of retribution Otis knelt down silently and started picking up the shattered pieces of what was his stall. Allen knelt down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Otis…"

He didn't respond. The eyes of the crowd burned into the back of their frames as the two of them picked up the shattered pieces in silence—

"OK folks, nothing to see here!" "Get a life why don't you?" "C'mon, scram! Go buy some manners will ya?" Allen looked over his shoulder. A freshly bandaged blonde looked down at him, smiling widely. "Hey there again little man!" He greeted as the rest of his gang dispersed the crowd.

_Little man? _Despite the comment, Allen sighed with relief at the broken tension. "You again."

"Yes captain!" The Boss saluted at Allen. "I came back to apologize because I realized it should have been _me_ to return the cup back to the owner. But look at this!" He broke his salute and smiled happily. "Seems like I was able to help ya out hm?"

Otis stood and turned to the intruders. "Get lost."

The blonde gaped at Otis. "No way!?"

Allen blinked. "What?"

"It's—!"

"Jonathan." Otis cut in. "Why are you still alive?" he asked, his voice dripping with venom and murderous intent.

But all was ignored as the entire gang suddenly dog-piled onto Otis. "IT'S THE REAL BOSS!" "LONG TIME NO SEE!" "WE THOUGHT YOU MOVED!" "WE MISSED YOU!!!"

Allen stared blankly at the mess of people as he stood in the wreckage of what was Otis's display. "What's wrong with these guys?"

* * *

After Notes:  
So yeah. I'm trying desperately hard to develop a plot for this yaoi infested story. Which so far, is lacking in the "yaoi infested" area. Haha whoopsie! °w° But like most people out there, I've noticed, yaoi stories usually don't have a plot. Except for the two hot bishounen to frickin' sleep with each other already! (To please the fans)  
But I really like plots. I hate reading pointless crap (unless its comedy). So the lack of yaoi is due to me _**trying**_ to develop this crazy story's plot. Yeah… tell me how that goes… ¬ w ¬

Anyway, before I go, one last **VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION FROM ME TO YOU:** What's the point of a C2? I mean like… I don't get what C2s are… one day I logged on and its like Escape belongs in a c2 now… UGH. Confusion. Someone wanna enlighten me on wtf a c2 is/does? That would make my day. X3

And as always, Tune In Next Time For More (crack)!! XD

**Edited 11/24/07:** (1) Checkin' himself out for the ladies... er... Rabi.  
Appologies, appologies. Things that got changed: additional hot RabiAllen in bed action scene (kinda), Allen invoking his innocence, more internal Allen conflict, err.. that's about it ya?


	6. Love

Title: Escape

Author: "teh great" M.F.

Disclaimer: all disclaimer rules apply--here and now.

Warnings: Shounan-ai/Yaoi, OOC

Before Notes: Whoo that last chapter was a bitch yeah? Gomen ne. Well, either way, onward!

* * *

Chapter 06: Love

Allen wiped the sweat from his brow as the sun set over the horizon. Looking around, everyone was busy sweeping and throwing away the last few pieces of non-salvageable items into the trash. Although it had only been a couple of hours since the vandalism of Otis' stand the group had managed to clean up all the remains and save what they could in a fair amount of time.

Allen glanced sideways at Otis who stood staring at the cavity in the row of kiosks. The very cavity that once held his kiosk where he sold things that were "out of the ordinary."

Earlier, after Otis and his former gang had released themselves from their group hug… erm… no. It was more like: Earlier, after Otis beat his former gang members senseless for even thinking about dog-piling him… Allen had been debating with himself whether or not he should ask Otis about the gang, especially that leader of theirs. Yes, it was established that the blonde, Jonathan, was in fact, _not_ the thief that Allen was searching for, but even if that were true, Allen couldn't shake off this feeling he had about Jonathan. Maybe he wasn't the thief, but that didn't mean, he didn't have any inside information on him.

But of course, the thing that kept Allen from asking Otis was the fact that whenever Otis laid his eyes upon them, there was this glimmer to kill that shone brightly behind his eyes. Yeah, it was probably something Otis _didn't_ want to discuss at the moment.

"Oi!" Jonathan called, walking up to Allen. "Looks like we did a good job huh?" The blonde said while brushing his hands off. "What do you think captain?" He asked, looking down at Allen.

Realizing he was talking to him, Allen sighed. "Yeah."

"Hey, what's with the sigh?" Jonathan asked, slapping Allen on the back. "Man, all this hard work calls for some refreshments down at the bar! What do you guys say?" Jonathan grinned, a resounding cheer from his fellow companions following. "So how about it? You and Boss want to come with us?"

Allen swallowed. "S-sorry, I don't drink…"

"Be a man and grow some balls!" Jonathan landed another thud onto Allen's back. "Every man's gotta like bit of brew once in a while!" He turned to Otis. "How about you Boss?"

"What do you think?" Otis kicked at the dirt road. "I'm going home." He said as he started walking down the street. "Oh yeah." He stopped in mid-step and half-heartedly threw a bag over his shoulder. With a loud clink, it hit the ground at Jonathan's feet. "You helped me out today, but that doesn't mean I'm coming back." Otis paused. "Take that as a token of my appreciation and don't ever come near me again."

Allen blinked. Jonathan just chuckled. "We didn't do it get you back." He picked up the bag and threw it back at Otis' feet. "We did it because we're friends."

Allen could feel the stinging of tears behind his eyes. Maybe it was the sincere words of dear friendship that caused them to bubble up, or the dirt in the air that Otis had kicked up earlier, but either way, Allen's heart filled with warmth. And even though he might've not completely understood if the statement was just as corny as it sounded, or if it was truly as deep as he thought it was, it was just too much for his little heart to handle at the moment.

"You cryin' Captain?" Jonathan asked as he put a hand on Allen's shaking shoulder. Otis turned around with a surprised look on his face.

"N-no!" Allen sniffled, holding back his genuine tears. "I'm okay." He said, voice shaking.

"No!" Jonathan announced, the rest of his gang suddenly appearing at the sides of the two men. "It's not okay! Let it out Captain, just let it all out!"

"Yes Captain!" the gang repeated, tears sparkling behind their eyes.

Otis stood staring at the somewhat pathetic scene. Why him of all people? "God! Shut up! Fine!" Otis shouted in defeat. "I'll meet you guys at the bar! Later tonight…" He ended in an embarrassed tone.

"Really?!" Everyone asked in unison.

Otis scratched the back of his head. "Y-yeah. So… nine, right? At the old place?"

Jonathan smiled, proud and happy tears flowing down his face. "Of course Boss."

"We're looking forward to seeing you there Boss!" the gang saluted at Otis, all with tears flowing down their faces as well.

Allen laughed. "You guys really are…"

"…a bunch of clowns." Otis muttered.

* * *

"Hahaha--ahh, Tyki, will you look at that?" a voice cooed through the darkness. "Looks like they're having fun." 

"Will you quit that out?" A cool voice replied. "You spy on that Allen Walker, when you should be doing your homework."

Rhode turned to Tyki, smiling. "I finished that a long time ago! Anyway, are you one to talk? Mr. I-Watch-Him-In-His-Sleep?"

Tyki's only reply was a fit of coughing.

Rhode giggled. "I told you that those cigarettes are going to kill you."

Tyki tried his hardest not to blush as he composed himself, "How'd you know about that?"

Rhode grinned widely. "Gotcha!" She pointed her finger at him like a gun and pulled the trigger, which caused Tyki's skin to change to a shade of burgundy. Laughing, Rhode fell back into her chair while Tyki grabbed a cigarette, mumbling under his breath, "Can't believe she spies on **me** too."

"Let's face it." Rhode said as Tyki exhaled a large cloud of smoke from his lungs. "There's just something about him that we like."

Tyki smiled to himself, she had a point. "I guess he doesn't even realize that he's been pulled into another scenario of the Earl's. Since we aren't there harassing him and all."

Rhode turned back to her window to Allen's world. "I know. He's nothing but a clueless, nice-guy." She said as she followed Allen's every movement with her eyes. Tyki just shook his head as he watched her usual habits. The same as always, he supposed. "Well, I guess it's about time for me to go." He said, getting to his feet.

"Don't forget to bring back the boy's innocence." Rhode teased. "And I'm not talking about Walker's."

"Yeah, yeah." Tyki said. And without another glance back, he grabbed his jacket and walked through Rhode's doorway.

* * *

Allen grabbed hold of his left forearm as he looked up at the dimming twilight. Tonight was a bit colder than the last. Unfortunately for Allen, he was stuck in his skimpy leather pants and half sleeveless shirt. He sighed, who's bright idea was it to give Allen such skimpy clothes? Not wanting to think too deeply about it, Allen just found resolve in that it was a random process. 

In front of him, Jonathan and the others were walking along, cracking jokes and striking poses. It didn't seem like these guys needed any liquor in their systems, because from Allen's point of view, they acted pretty drunk.

"Here's the bar captain!" Jonathan announced as they stood in front of a small building. "It doesn't look like much, but she's got the best brew in town." Jonathan blushed. "Just thinking about it makes me feel drunk…"

"Oh." Allen looked at the run-down building. "I guess I'll have to trust your word then."

"Sure do!" Jonathan smiled then turned to his gang. "All right boys! Meet here 'round nine! I'll have things ready for ya, so go on, take the rest of the day off 'kay?"

"Ussu!"

Allen watched as they all dispersed, smiles of relief and excitement on their faces. He smiled to himself as he watched their expressions, and not only theirs, but others as they walked pass on the sidewalk. Perhaps it was another façade, but all the selfish people in this city seemed pretty… happy.

"Hey captain…" Jonathan said hesitantly, walking up to Allen. "There's been something on my mind… so, before you leave, do you mind chatting with me a bit?"

"Uhm, sure. I can do that." Allen's eyes widened. "Oh yeah! I also had some things I wanted to talk to you about!"

"I think I've got a good idea about what you wanna talk about…" Jonathan scratched his chin then turned to Allen. "But it sounds like a plan, information for information."

Allen raised a brow at Jonathan as he started walking forward. _Does Jonathan really know what I want to talk to him about already?_ Allen shook his head, well, if he did, then this conversation would flow pretty steadily, right?

Allen had to practically jog to catch up with Jonathan and his long strides. The two of them entered a park just as Allen caught up, "So what's on your mind?"

Jonathan didn't jump right into his thoughts. He tapped his fingers against his mouth before he opened it to speak. "Earlier, after we finished tusslin' in that alley, that guy who came, he was your friend, right?"

"Yeah, Rabi." Allen answered cautiously while still trying to keep the mood light.

"Yeah!" Jonathan nodded vigorously. "He's been hanging around our side of town lately, asking everyone suspicious questions… questions about _him."_

"The thief." Allen said almost robotically. "Yeah, Rabi's a bit eccentric, don't mind him." The adrenaline began stirring in his veins. "Has he talked to you about it yet?"

"Nope." Jonathan said as he plopped down onto a stone bench, he seemed a little dejected. "I've just heard about him is all…"

"Hm, well, then can I talk to you about it?" Allen asked, not knowing whether or not his proposal would be accepted.

Jonathan looked over at Allen, his face ecstatic. "I just knew that that was what you wanted to talk about!"

Allen found himself sighing in relief at Jonathan's reaction. "So for the record, your not the thief right?"

"I wish!" Jonathan laughed. "If I was that thief, I'd be the richest bastard in the world!" He rubbed his hands together. "Sometimes I really wish I was him, or that I knew who he was. He's probably so rich right now, what, with sellin' all those goods on the black market for those outrageous prices!" His eyes suddenly shifted from hungry to angry. "And you know what? People actually buy it! Crazy rich bastards."

"Wow!" Allen blinked. "Sounds like you know a lot about this guy."

Jonathan smiled, acknowledging the fact that his information was of much interest to his captain at the moment. "Well, I may be the stand-in leader of a somewhat shitty gang right now, but that doesn't mean I don't know what all is happening in the underground." He grinned smugly. "Too bad for your Rabi friend, but I'm a _goldmine_ of information on that thief."

Allen chuckled, "Well then, can you tell me more about him? Have you ever seen him?"

"I've seen him, just not his face." Jonathan sighed. "He's a weird guy. Wears black cloaks with hoods and everything, and sometimes he's got chains hanging off of him like the grim reaper or something, of course, he doesn't really carry around a scythe, but that'd top of his costume for sure! But anyway, it's thanks to that costume that nobody's seen his face."

Jonathan stopped in his tracks. "That guy though, he's been getting really cheeky lately. You know, with his declaration to kill the minister and all."

"Oh, you've heard about that?" Allen asked, surprised that the public already knew about the information.

"Of course! Everyone in the underground's heard of it. I understand why he might want to kill the minister. I mean, the ministers a dickass, he's been taking all the money from the churches in the city and using them to buy himself women and the latest equipment to lengthen his lifespan, and other weird stuff like that, I actually heard he recently bought out a sex toy company…!" Jonathan snickered.

Allen blushed. _Are we still talking about a __**minister **__here?_

"Why is he still the minister then? Why doesn't the city do something about it?"

"Well, they can't." Jonathan shrugged. "The guy's been minister here since the city was first established. He's pretty old, but like I said, thanks to those weird drugs, he's still able to move around like, uh, a lively 50 year old I guess. Anyway, even though he may be a lousy bum, he's really good at his job _inside_ the church. And all this information against him is being held from the public. They go on living their lives, worshiping this false prophet, all because the higher-ups in the city are afraid that if they _do_ reveal all this, then the people will revolt and riot. The city's done rough estimates of how much the damage could cost…" Jonathan scratched the back of his head. "Obviously it was enough to make 'em keep the minister."

"So they just keep digging themselves a bigger hole." Allen said staring at the cobblestone beneath his feet.

"Oh, but there's more!" Jonathan added, a slight grimace replacing his cheerful demeanor. "At any rate, it's also thanks to that bastard that there've been more and more people popping up around the city who have no home and no money, you know, poor people. How, you ask, is that his fault? Well, in this country, the minister is supposed to take the money he gets from the people and help those in need, build new homeless shelters, distribute welfare… all that kind of shit. I guess really, this city especially, started going down the drain ever since the minister turned his new leaf."

Allen didn't understand. "Why? Why would he change like that?"

"Greed I guess, lust, other things like that. Material wants got the better of him and he kinda just spiraled out of control."

"Why this city?" Allen pressed further, trying to fill in the gaps. "What about the rest of the country?"

"Oh, didn't you know? This here city is the capital of the country." Jonathan stuck out his tongue, "I think."

Allen shook his head. It was still hard for him to swallow. A holy figure who wasn't holy at all. How could something like this have happened? Maybe it was just the atmosphere of the city. Maybe the holy man finally gave into the wicked atmosphere around him. But that still didn't make sense. Allen remembered looking at the faces of the people on the street moments ago, all smiling, all happy.

Allen was lost in his thoughts while Jonathan continued blabbing on about other minor details about the minister.

"Woah, check out that guy! Talk about old fashioned." Jonathan suddenly said, changing the subject. Allen looked up as Jonathan pointed to a man outside the parks gates. He was tall and had a top hat and suit on. Allen's eyes widened, although the man had his back to them, Allen knew that figure anywhere.

"J-Jonathan thanks a lot for the input!" Allen jumped to his feet and started jogging off. "But I just remembered, I have something to do! Nine 'o clock right?"

"Y-yeah…" Jonathan blinked. "See ya?"

* * *

That man it couldn't have been, could it? Allen was careful in following him, leaving enough distance between them so he wouldn't look suspicious. After all, he was stalking the only guy on the street wearing a suit of all things. And it didn't help that the man Allen was following was also a head taller than those around him. Talking about sticking out like a sore thumb. 

Allen followed while the man led them down streets that seemed to grow more and more empty. Allen decided he would go and confront him as soon as he turned the next corner onto a dead end street Allen had seen earlier. But as soon as he mentally made that decision, his target turned a sharp corner with a sudden burst of energy, noticing this, Allen cursed underneath his breathe, hoping he hadn't somehow blown his cover.

As soon as he turned the corner, Allen froze as he stared into the dead-end alleyway, with no sign of anyone, anywhere.

"Where...?" Allen stared down the dark and empty alley.

"Looking for me Allen-kun?"

In a heartbeat, Allen had his innocence activated and had it pointing at Tyki's heart. Interestingly enough, Tyki's upper body was sticking out of the wall to Allen's right, an amused look on the Noah's face. He pushed Allen's innocence aside and stepped out of the building.

"Put that thing away, I'm not here for you Allen-kun." Tyki said as he pulled out and lit up a cigarette.

Allen pressed his weapon to Tyki's chest again, "What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"I told you already, I'm not here for you boy." He inhaled deeply. "Of course, if you want my attention that badly, I might just give it to you." He smiled to himself, sadistic thoughts filling his head. "But sadly…" He cleared his throat, remembering the reason he came. "I'm here for the other boy today."

Allen readied his weapon. "I won't let you hurt them." His composed anger burned through his words.

Tyki exhaled a cold laugh as he flicked his cigarette butt out into the street. Noticing the seriousness of Allen's words made Tyki twinge. Here he was trying to be nice to the boy, and Allen-kun was being a jerk to him. This, his black side would not tolerate. "You've got to realize that the world doesn't revolve around you exorcists."

Allen gasped as a bone crushing pressure wrapped itself around his neck before he could react. Tyki's contorted smile looked down on him. "Although I'd love to see you writhing in pain beneath me, I have a job to do, one that involves that thief that you're after." He whispered, his dark eyes penetrating Allen's wet but determined, blue ones. Realizing he wasn't going to get any more anguish out of Allen, he chuckled and let go of the young exorcist's throat.

Allen fell to his knees, gripping his neck and coughing painfully until he could get enough air circulating back into his lungs. "You-you can't have him." Allen whispered, tears streaking down his face.

"Is that so?" Tyki asked wearing a pleased expression. "Well then, how about we have some fun and make it a race?"

"A race? What are you trying to get at bastard?" Allen asked, trying to raise the volume on his voice, only to get out a measly murmur.

"It's as simple as it sounds. Whoever finds the rebel exorcist first, gets to keep him and his innocence."

Allen steadily got to his feet. "This isn't a game! There's no way that we'll let you get to him before we do."

Tyki smiled. "Always fighting, aren't you boy?" He asked then leaned forward and grabbed Allen's collar. Allen's eyes widened with shock as their lips touched. Tyki's lips were ashy and dry, like his cigarettes. In anger, Allen closed his eyes tightly as he struggled to push Tyki away, after a good kick in the shins though Tyki finally pulled back.

"What the hell?!" Allen tried shouting. "BLEH! I taste cigarette!" His said, voice cracking.

Tyki laughed as he rubbed his shin, "Ouch! That was a kiss for luck!" He turned on his heel, "You'll need it." He waved and before Allen could try to stop him, he was gone.

Allen paused, "What the hell do you mean I'll need it?!?" He shouted angrily after him, wherever the Noah had gone to. A sudden ache wrenched around his throat, and Allen coughed as he rubbed his neck. Getting nothing but silence in return, Allen turned around and headed back to the more crowded street.

This situation was getting serious. If the Earl had sent a Noah here, it must have meant that something big might happen soon, but what? Allen peeked into a shop window. It was seven fifty, which meant Allen had plenty of time to go and look for Rabi and Kanda before his engagement tonight.

Massaging his neck with one hand, Allen used the other and pulled out his earpiece that Baku had given the three of them way at the beginning of their mission. Too bad it had a mind of it's own, earlier while he was stalking down Tyki it hadn't worked. Allen stared down at it and wondered if it would work now that his ordeal was over. Allen talked into it… once, twice, one more time. No response, again.

* * *

Meanwhile, on Rabi's end of the spectrum, Rabi darted through the crowd in the Bazaar searching for none other than: 

"ALLEN!!" He called out. "ALLEN!!" _Where is he?_

" 'Scuse me sir…" Rabi said stopping a man at a stall, "Have you seen a kid around? About this tall, white hair, funny looking scar—err, _tattoo_ on his face?"

The man gave him a funny look before he realized what he was talking about. "Oh, do you mean that old man who's friends with, what was is name…? Oh! Otis, I think it was?"

Rabi nodded. "Yeah! That's right!" _All of it, except for the fact that Allen's not an old man._

"Oh sure, him and a group of guys went downtown towards the bars." The man scratched his chin. "Although I don't think it's safe for a man to be drinking and hanging out with a gang like that at his age."

"Yeah, yeah, thanks a lot!" Rabi thanked as he started running through the crowd again. _Bean sprout must've run into that reject gang again… but what's he doing hanging out with them?_

Allen sighed as he continued staring at his useless earpiece. _I wonder how I'll find them now. This place is huge._

Rabi ran as fast as he could, his eye darting from face to face. _Beansprout where are you?_

Looking up at the glow of the city against the night sky Allen put the earpiece back. If he was lucky, Otis might run into either Kanda or Rabi and ask them to come to the bar that evening. That way Allen would be able to inform them the new development.

"Allen!" Rabi called as he finally spotted the patch of white amongst the other shades of grey. "Allen!!!"

Allen looked up. Was somebody calling his name?

"Allen!" Rabi pushed past the crowd and grabbed his white-haired friend… or so he thought…

"Who the fuck are you?" An agitated woman looked up at him. Rabi's hand that had been resting on her shoulder shot back into the air.

"Oh man! I mean, woman! I mean—dammit! Sorry!" Rabi stuttered, his face turning red.

The woman raised a brow then batted her eyelashes. "Hey, looks like you want some action tonight, don't you sweetie?"

Rabi swallowed. "Uh… wow! Look at the time! Is it that late already? I better get going!" And with that, Rabi strode in the opposite direction, leaving the bewildered woman behind.

"Rabi--? Oh pardon me." Allen apologized as he bumped into a woman with the same shade of hair as he did.

"No problem sweetie." She brushed off. "Nice hair by the way." She winked as she walked off.

Allen laughed lightly then turned back around. "I could have sworn I heard Rabi's voice."

"Rabi?!" Allen shouted.

Rabi stopped in his tracks. "Beansprout?!"

In an instant Allen felt thunderous steps running towards him, and before he knew it—BAM! There was Rabi, hugging Allen's small frame till his face turned bright red.

"Allen! Allen! Allen Walker! Bean sprout!" Rabi repeated over and over, grateful that it was actually Allen he was holding, and not some strange woman.

"L-let go of me Rabi…" Allen said, trying to push the older exorcist off him. "I can't breathe…"

"Oh, right." Rabi grinned as he let go. "You okay?"

"I will be, but there's something I need to talk to you about." Allen coughed as he rubbed his sore shoulders.

That was when Rabi saw it.

"Allen, what's that?"

"Hm?" Allen asked. Rabi looked down at Allen, frowning with concern.

"Follow me for a sec, would ya?" Rabi asked, but didn't wait for a reply. He grabbed Allen's wrist and walked the two of them into the nearest restaurant. The duo sat down at a small, secluded table in the back and ordered a couple of drinks to keep the waiter busy. As soon as he was out of sight, Rabi grabbed the collar of Allen's shirt and started unzipping it.

Allen blushed. "Rabi! What are you doing?" He asked angrily. "Stop it! I'll-I'll catch a cold!" his voice cracked as he tried to push off Rabi's sudden advance.

"What are these marks around your neck Allen?" Rabi asked, suddenly stopping with his aggressive spell. He gently placed his hand around Allen's neck, covering the deep red marks with his own fingers. "Who did this to you?" He asked, pulling his hand away from Allen's porcelain neck.

"That's what I needed to talk to you about." Allen whispered, zipping his shirt back up, all the way to the top this time. "Earlier I ran into a Noah. Rabi, I would have contacted you and Kanda earlier, but my communicator wouldn't work. Sorry."

"Dammit!" Rabi cursed. "If only we would have known about the communication sooner!"

Allen tilted his head to the side. "What're you talking about?"

"You see…" Rabi started seriously. "That's what I came to tell you. Here, let me see it." He said, taking the device from Allen's ear. "Looks like yours was the defective one. Mine and Yuu's were working real well up until a few hours ago." Rabi explained as he dropped the earpiece into his glass of water. Allen watched as it sparked a bit then fizzled to the bottom.

"Fou had to come and find me to explain that they were actually an invention fresh out of Baku's imagination." Rabi shook his head. "Truthfully, they did work for a little while, but they obviously ran out of energy or somethin'… I dunno, Fou explained it all to me about them being a prototype and all, but anyways, the point is, they don't work anymore."

"I see." Allen stared at the fried piece of equipment sitting at the bottom of the glass.

"Thank you." Rabi said grimly, accepting their drinks from the waiter. "I just wish I could've figured that out sooner, then maybe, I would have been able to find you before this happened."

Allen watched as Rabi's hands wrapped around his hot cup of coffee, trembling a bit.

Allen couldn't help a smile that crept across his face. "Rabi, I'll be fine, so don't worry about it. It's nothing compared to some of the other injuries I've had before, right?"

Rabi smiled at Allen's attempt to cheer him up. Allen smiled back. "So where's Kanda?" Allen whispered as he took a sip of his hot drink.

"Fou went to go inform him about the communicators." Rabi answered taking a whiff of his coffee, he grinned. "And I think she said that she would be taking him back to HQ afterwards and have him watch over the minister, since he's so strong and reliable after all." Rabi chuckled as he stirred in some cream and sugar.

Allen laughed and looked down at his own drink, hot chocolate with extra whip cream and fudge syrup.

"Jeez, I can't wait till we finish this and go back home!" Rabi said as he stretched back in his chair. "This mission's been a long one."

"Yeah, well at least we weren't sent to Siberia like last month." Allen said, bringing his cup to his mouth, then, for a second he froze.

Rabi took a sip of his coffee then looked up at Allen. He was frozen in place, his cup barely touching his lips. "H-hey Allen, what's wrong?" Rabi sat up, "Is everything okay?" Allen's eyes widened, he had an itch, a sudden, irksome itch in his nose, one that he couldn't get rid of. _Oh no..._ he realized, he was going to…

"Atchoo!"

…sneeze.

Foam and hot liquid went flying everywhere, the majority of it though, landed on Allen's face. "HOT!" His voice splintered as he dropped his cup. Luckily Rabi caught it before it shattered, and sent even _more_ hot chocolate running over the edge of the table.

"Bless you!" Rabi said, trying to suppress a burst of laughter. "Allen, are you ok?"

Tears welled in Allen's eyes from the scorching pain of the hot chocolate, but the fact that he had just made himself look like an idiot in front of his friend didn't help hold back his tears. "I'm fine." He said, grabbing his napkin and wiping the liquid off his face.

"Aww…" Rabi could feel the waves of embarrassment cascading off of Allen. "Don't worry Allen, nobody else saw you in your clumsy, yet glorious moment of sweet chocolitude. Just me!" He said in a nonsense manner. Allen told him to shut up as his reply and Rabi just chuckled. "C'mere you're missing a spot." He said, leaning across the table. Hesitating, Allen wanted to wipe off the few tears that had escaped his eyes, but he went ahead and leaned across towards Rabi.

Rabi placed a hand under Allen's chin and looked him square in the face. Allen blinked, trying to hold back the rest of his tears. Using his free hand, Rabi brushed away some hairs from Allen's face and leaned in. "Hold still."

Allen closed his eyes, when he suddenly felt something warm and wet wipe across his cheek. "R-Rabi?!" Allen blushed heatedly, his chin still planted firmly in Rabi's grasp. "What are you doing?"

"I'm getting the rest of this stuff off your face. What else?" Rabi whispered teasingly as he licked his lips. This time he took his free hand and placed it behind Allen's head, pulling him even closer. Again, Allen felt the same warm, wet, coffee-smelling sensation wipe across his face. Licking away both the sweet chocolate and salty tears from Allen's face.

"Use a napkin!!!" Allen could feel the rest of his tears of embarrassment trickle down his face. And he thought he was embarrassed _earlier_, boy was he wrong.

"But you're so sweet Allen-chan." Rabi pressed a smile to Allen's forehead. Allen closed his eyes tightly when he finally felt sweet release. Opening his eyes he saw Rabi lean back in his chair smiling like the usual goofball he was. Allen stared at Rabi wide-eyed and put a hand over his cheek, the thin layer of Rabi's saliva cooling his skin. Allen's mind was blank, a white void of nothingness for a couple of seconds when finally, one lone thought registered in his brain: _Rabi's tongue… felt good._

"Rabi." Allen said, trying to shake out that thought and realign things again. He repeated his name once more. He was close… he knew it... There was something in his mind, some kind of truth that was screaming at his face, but what… what was it?

After a few more seconds of silence, it finally hit him.

Finally, after all of Rabi's flirts, **this one** was the much needed sledgehammer to the drywall: the act at the Coffee Shop, the awkward conversation at the bedside, the constant touching and taking care of.

Allen had told himself that Rabi was a weird friend. One who showed the same form of affection to all his friends whether they be boy, girl, or even lover. But why hadn't he realized the stupidity of that sort of reasoning sooner? Back when they had first kissed in the coffee shop? Why? Perhaps Allen was just in denial. But now, the question was clear:

_Does Rabi __**love**__ me?_

* * *

After Notes:

Finally, another chapter down… soo… how was it? I tried really hard this time to type something that wouldn't make you think I have ADD or something……yeah... ¯¯3¯¯  
Oh yeah! Thanks for the input on the c2s everyone! I should ask you guys questions more often! XD

So, I was shooting for getting this chapter updated Jan. 1… which was yesterday… but I failed… lesigh. I had to go to a party or something… and by the time I got home, I was forced to go to bed early by my mother. TT3TT I am so _not_ going to be one of those people who live in their parents' basement for the rest of their lives. I need independence!  
Hah, well, now that I'm done with that, thanks for the reviews you guys! You guys are love! °w° I hope the Rabi on Allen lickage was enough to satisfy your needs for now. Heck, I even threw in some TikiAllen in there for ya! X3 Poor Allen is so abused and molested in my fic, but that's only because he's so loveable. And I apologize for those KandaAllen fans... I kinda completely forgot about his existence in this chapter huh? Sorry! XP (He'll be back though, don't worry!)  
Ok, that's enough out of me for today! Hope you guys liked the chapter!

Tune in next time for more! XD

**Edited 11/24/07: **Finally! Now... chapter 7...


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